Asian hornets threaten ‘catastrophe’ for UK bees

UK bees are in danger from “invasive hornets” who are “wreaking havoc in mainland Europe”, according to a report by leading scientists.

The Asian hornets, which feed on native bees and wasps, are threatening to get a “foothold” in the UK, with nests found in East Sussex, Kent, Devon and Dorset, said the BBC. This has raised fears of “catastrophic consequences” for the UK’s bee populations for years to come.

There has been a “sharp rise” in sightings of the invasive species in the UK this year, noted The Guardian. There were only two sightings in each of the previous two years, whereas there have been 22 confirmed so far in 2023. As the vast majority have been in Kent, some experts believe the species may have established itself there.

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“It is a bit too early to say for sure but the situation looks ominous,” Dave Goulson, a professor of biology at the University of Sussex, told the paper. He warned that “if even one nest evades detection and reproduces” it will then “probably become impossible to prevent them establishing”.

This would be “terrible news” for native bees, which the hornets “dismember and eat”, said the paper. They “sit outside honeybee hives and capture bees as they enter and exit”, it added, and “chop up the smaller insects and feed their thoraxes to their young”.

Prompt destruction of nests “has so far prevented the species from becoming established” in the UK, said New Scientist.

A UN study published this week said invasive alien species are spreading across the world at “unprecedented rates”, said the i paper, threatening native plants and animals with extinction while damaging human health and livelihoods. It said invasive species have been solely responsible for 16% of the world’s animal and plant extinctions and a factor in 60%.