It's almost time to set your traps for the wretched Asian Hornets. It's between Mid February and March/April when the Queens leave their winter underground quarters, and the traps are most effective. I believe these particular Hornets are already in the UK, so this applies to Brits also.
I read recently that traps set in Spring can reduce Hornet numbers by anywhere up to 90%.
Traps are simple to make. I use large glass jars, with a good Hornet-sized hole in the lids. I quarter fill the jar with a mix of beer, jam, sugar, and anything else sweet that's hanging around at the back of the fridge. Ours are hung in Fig and Apple trees.
These simple traps are extremely efficient; last year I must have caught hundreds, if not thousands.
I am reliably (I think) informed that in Germany one can be fined €50,000 for killing Hornets. Well, if the German Hornet Police come round here threatening to fine me, they'll feel the sharp end of my pitch fork pretty damn quick. They can pamper their own bloody pests if they wish; here we are not so keen.
I live in a major Chestnut growing area, and Bees are brought in every year to help pollinate the trees. Asian Hornets, and maybe the native ones too, kill thousands of Honey Bees annually, so the less Hornets the better; not to mention the danger they are to humans.
We want Honey Bees, not Hornets! Get setting those traps!
I can't possibly imagine why it should be illegal to kill a foreign pest insect in Germany.
ReplyDeleteCrazy bureaucracy has no bounds; even in Germany.
DeleteGood luck with the trap, sometimes the rules have incomprehensible logic, they are set and stay forever.
ReplyDeleteA few deaths would possibly make them change their minds... but who wants that!
DeleteI once put on a pair of trousers, unbeknownst to me housing a hibernating hornet. As luck would have it, they were baggy trews so I only received a gentle reminder I had an unwelcome guest! Peeling them off carefully I discovered a sleepy queen. She I am afraid to say was popped out of the window on a winter’s day.
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Gosh, you were lucky. Nasty beasts. A couple of stings, and it's Goodnight Vienna.
DeleteWe don’t seem to get many hornets .... yet .... I might be eating my words in a few months !!! XXXX
ReplyDeleteI was just reading that they are already established in the South of England. I'm afraid they spread very rapidly too. They've only been here a few years, and are quite a menace.
DeletePerhaps the German hornet police if such there be prefer you to purchase and spray dangerous chemicals manufactured by Bayer-Monsanto on your land. A former environmental minister here next door to the EU's largest economy refused to say how much glyphosate was being sprayed and if it was responsible for the decline in bee populations. He said: It is a state secret.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think more than 90% of EU Commission's work is done in secret? I think 2 and 2 makes 4 even in secret places but maybe I'm wrong, maybe it makes 5.
I think Glyphosate is banned here now, but there are plenty of other nasties around. Just before the Sunflower crops are harvested, they are sprayed with a derivative of 'Agent Orange' which kills the plants; making the harvest easier. When I buy Sunflower oil, I make sure it's Bio.
DeleteEverybody seems to get cancer these days. We are what we eat. And breathe. And wear next to our skin. Truly the environment is getting quickly forked up.
DeleteI'm afraid I have to agree, and sadly the majority of people don't believe, or understand, it.
DeleteFond memories of Philippe and his hornet nest destroying flame thrower.
ReplyDeleteI have participated in the burning of a nest.... dangerous; they didn't like it.
DeleteI shall my eye open for one Cro - not heard of any round here.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a map of their spreading, but if you have Bees and Wasps, you'll probably eventually have Asian Hornets too.
DeleteI would be worried about trapping non-Asian hornets, which do not harm bees at all as far as I know. Also, they are no particular danger to humans. Their sting does not kill - that's a myth - and they are not aggressive.
ReplyDeleteThe Asian Hornets are the real problem. In Japan they kill between 30 - 40 people each year, and in the Chinese province of Shaanxi alone, they kill over 40. I don't have figures for Europe.
DeleteFortunately even wasps are a rarity where I live on Lewis. I'm not sure hornets have arrived in Scotland yet.
ReplyDeleteYou may well avoid them altogether. I hope, for your sakes, that you do!
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