Yellow Legged
Asian Hornet

Stay vigilant

The YLH can be accidentally imported into the UK among goods such as soil with pot plants, cut flowers, fruit, timber, animal feed, and even used camping equipment.  

We all need to stay vigilant, so if you have connections with local gardening groups, anglers, garden centres, wildlife groups, ramblers etc, please spread the word.

If you think you can help raise awareness in your company, your hobby groups, your school, put up posters in your neighbourhood, give talks, or invite a beekeeper to give a talk please contact us.

The NNSS provide a series of resources free of charge including posters and identification sheets which you can distribute to others.  

What do they look like?

Asian hornets are rather like large black wasps with a single yellow band, orange face and yellow tipped legs. Queens are up to 30mm long, workers up to 25mm.

Look out for: 

• black thorax 

• abdomen mostly black except for an orange fourth segment

• legs brown with yellow ends 

• head black with orange-yellow face

• Queens buzz quite deeply, like a bumblebee

Report it

If you think you have seen an YLH, the quickest and best way to identify and report a possible sighting is to use the Asian Hornet Watch app which has been designed to record and help the early detection of YLHs. The free app provides an identification guide to help check which species you have seen and an opportunity to record your sightings. 

• Asian Hornet Watch app for Android

• Asian Hornet Watch app for iPhone

Alternatively, report the sighting to the Non-Native Species Directorate with a photo using the online form: www.bit.ly/asianhornetreport or email a photo to alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk.

If you catch a YLH in your monitoring trap, photograph it, report it, then put the whole trap in the freezer to kill it without squashing.

If the sighting is positive, the NNSS will trigger further investigations by the UK's bee inspectors. 

How you can help

Beekeepers are being called on by the BBKA to familiarise ourselves with the the BBKA Resources page. Here you'll find social media links, identification information for yourself, and helpful posters to pass onto others. You'll find the links to the app, videos of YLHs, life cycle posters, and instructions for making traps.

The National Bee Unit page includes useful links to posters, id sheets, information about life cycle, and key identification features versus the native European hornet. Visit the NBU resources page.

Roy Fairclough is the EBKA YLH Action Team co-ordinator.  See the Committee page for his contact details.