Britain is facing an ‘exponential’ spread of Asian hornets, experts have warned, after one of the aggressive insects was spotted leaving a nest in Dorset.
The invasive species, which originally hails from south east Asia, has become increasingly prevalent in parts of Britain and Northern Ireland, particularly southern England.
While most nests are typically destroyed in the summer before eggs hatch,a nest was found vacant in Ringstead near Weymouth, meaning the queens would have already left to hibernate for the winter.
Only one in six are thought to survive the winter, but each nest can hold up to 5,000 hornets.
As many as 50 hornets could emerge next spring to build new nests to lay their eggs, experts believe.
Sign up for all of the latest stories
Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.
Members of the government’s National Bee Unit arrived in the area after the nest, the size of a rugby ball, was spotted up a tree.
The discovery followed sightings of several individual male and worker hornets in the neighbourhood.
A tiny camera was attached to the back of one of the insects leading investigators to the nest, which has since been poisoned with CO2 gas.
Environmentalists have tracked the invasion to a single queen hornet which arrived on an international cruise ship on the Isle of Portland, before it made its way to mainland Dorset.
Asian, or ‘yellow-legged’ hornets were first introduced to Europe via a shipment of pottery from China to France in 2004.
They have since spread around France, the Channel Islands and to northern Spain, with the first recorded sighting in Britain in September 2016.
In the last ten years the UK population has grown rapidly, with 500 individual sightings and 136 nests recorded this year alone.
By contrast, just 17 were spotted between 2016 and 2019.
The species is not just a danger for humans, but a threat to native insect populations including honey bees, moths and butterflies.
Members of the public are urged to stay vigilant and to report sightings, with photos where safe to take, to the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, commissioned by Defra.
Stephen Potts, an expert on the species at Dorchester & Weymouth Beekeepers Association (DWBA) said that Asian hornets are considered ‘aggressive predators’ because there are no other insects that can take them on.
He explained that in Spain, concerns had been raised for the bird population as there is a shortage of insects for the hornets to feed on.
On their danger to humans, he said: ‘Their sting is about the same as a bee sting but you disturb a bees’ nest and one or two will come after you.
‘Asian hornets are highly aggressive and if you disturb their nest they will all spill out and come for you and you can’t out run them.’
Mark White, from the East Dorset Beekeepers’ Association, said that the species had found an ideal home in Britain as the climate is similar to their native home in China.
‘As well as being an apex predator they are prolific at reproduction’, he said.
‘People think this is a beekeeper’s problem but it’s an everybody problem. They take out all the insects that birds rely on and the insects used for fishing.
‘They scavenge so they will eat roadkill off the side of roads and they have already affected the grape crops and wine industry in France and Spain.’
‘Every queen or nest we don’t destroy now is potentially five or six nests next year’, he added.
It comes after a father and son were killed by giant Asian hornets while holidaying in Laos.
The American teacher and the teenager were reportedly climbing down a tree when they were attacked by a swarm, the Independent reported.
Asian Hornets were also spotted for the first time in Northern Ireland, while two nests were destroyed in Cork this summer.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.