With autumn approaching and the mercury dropping, you would think that Asian hornets would become less active. But nothing could be further from the truth. At the beekeepers’ association Sint Ambrosius in Reusel, the creatures still cause considerable nuisance: they quickly devour the honey bees. Beekeeper Pierre’s traps are full in no time, even in October.
Pierre Sanders placed two large traps at his beehives in Reusel on Tuesday afternoon to catch the hornets. It contains a mixture of wine, beer and sugar water: a sweet substance that the predatory insect loves.
Now, a day later, the traps are completely full of buzzing giant wasps. “And that is quite surprising, because I have already caught forty queens here in the spring,” says Pierre. “I assumed that this would reduce the nuisance.”
“A nest like that is completely exterminated.”
“It’s a disaster,” says the beekeeper. “I have already lost at least five bee colonies this season due to the hornets. Such an animal kills five kilos of bees. And if the colony is weakened a little, the nest is completely wiped out.”
Pierre went to look in the area to see if he saw a hornet’s nest somewhere, but without results. Marking the hornets and then watching where they fly to is difficult. “I can only follow them a short distance.”
Last summer, frantic efforts were made to catch the hornet queens in Reusel-De Mierden with home-made traps. And with success. In total they caught at least 345 queens of the killer wasp.
So now there is another big catch. And during the interview, Pierre whips one hornet after another out of the air with his net. He presses the insects to death with a thick felt-tip pen. “If it cracks, then it’s good,” he says.
Pierre is in a gloomy mood. “I’m worried about the coming years. It is a major threat to the honey bees.”
Eradication of the Asian hornet
The Asian hornet was first seen in the Netherlands in 2017. The species is native to Asia and is spreading rapidly in Europe. The giant wasp is a predator and catches masses of bees, spiders, butterflies and mosquitoes. Not to eat themselves, but as food for the larvae.
Initially, attempts were made to completely eradicate the invasive species. This turned out to be unfeasible, especially because nests often hang high in trees and are difficult to find. As a result, the national status of the Asian hornet has changed from ‘extermination’ to ‘control’ in 2021.
This means that further spread of the species and damage to biodiversity must be prevented as much as possible. Nests in places with a concrete danger to biodiversity or public health are tackled.