Asian Hornet team removes three nests in Sark
THREE Asian hornet nests in Sark were dealt with by the Guernsey Asian hornet team working alongside Sark volunteers yesterday.
Guernsey’s Asian hornet strategy coordinator Francis Russell was joined for the island visit by field officer Damian Harris, and they met up with island residents who monitor the hornets and are members of a team supported and resourced by Sark’s Agricultural Committee.
The volunteers organise the spring trapping of queens and tracking the nests in the autumn and summer.
‘Each spring we get about 10 or 11 queens caught,’ said Sark’s lead Asian hornet co-ordinator Peter Cunneen.
‘Last year we only caught one.
‘This year we caught 24.’
The most likely route for the hornets getting to the island was the annual incursion of queens that fly to the island from France every spring, Mr Russell said.
Worker hornets had been spotted in several locations around the island in recent weeks and while dealing with one of two that had been found another was discovered in a hay barn by volunteer Andrew Prevel.
A fourth nest is thought to be at Greve de la Ville and a plan is being formulated for how to deal with it.
Mr Russell said that the team had supported Sark, Jethou and Herm since the States’ first implemented the strategy in 2019 and this enabled the Channel Islands to work together to prevent the spread of the hornets and safeguard each island.
‘There is regular correspondence between Guernsey’s Asian hornet strategy coordinator and the designated staff on other islands, including Alderney and Jersey,’ he said.
Mr Cunneen thanked the Guernsey team members for their support.
‘What impresses me is their dedication and their passion for what they are doing, it’s incredible,’ he said.
