Asian hornet nest found inside wall

The discovery followed hours of observation by the Asian Hornet Team and came as something of a surprise. ‘Although we have found nests in all sorts of locations before, we’ve never found one that was inside a free-standing wall,’ said Asian hornet strategy project coordinator Francis Russell.

‘We were amazed to see a lot of hornets that were busily coming and going from the top of the stone wall,’ he said.

‘The entrance holes were only large enough to let a single hornet enter at a time. The owners were equally surprised as they had read a previous Guernsey Press article that we were looking for a nest in the area. They had checked around their garden for signs of hornets but had not seen anything.’

The nest was traced after the team were alerted to the hornets feeding on a late flowering shrub in the Havelet area.

Bait stations were set up and hornets were spotted flying east from the Pandora Hotel and arriving every five minutes in the garden of Victor Hugo’s house in Hauteville, flying to a terraced garden below.

‘We treated the nest successfully on Monday morning but will have no idea how large it is or whether any queen hornets have been raised in the nest,’ said Mr Russell.

‘Over the weekend we set some traps close by and picked up a total of 103 hornets prior to treatment. This cold weather will definitely speed up the end of any surviving hornets that we don’t know about but the risk is that queens may have already left to go into hibernation.

‘As always, we ask people to remain vigilant and continue to report any sightings to us.’

The team is due to travel to Sark today where a large secondary Asian hornets’ nest has been found in some brambles. The aim is to treat and remove it the same day.

. A dedicated States of Guernsey Asian Hornet Team Facebook page has been established in order to provide regular updates and information to the community. If someone sights a suspected hornet they should take a photo if possible and email it to asianhornet@gov.gg, phone 234567 or contact the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/asianhornets, including the location of the sighting.