It wasn’t long ago that we were seen as feisty but fair! Think of the children’s magazine The Hornet and my favourite football team has the nickname The Hornets.
Now, with the appearance of the infamous Yellow-Legged Hornet, formerly known as the Asian Hornet, all that general goodwill is changing. And that is a shame because we are a native species and are already pretty hard done to given that you’re gradually removing our preferred natural habitat of oak woods and water meadows. Despite the attacks on our favoured locations we don’t go out of our way to bother you – unlike our rather vulgar cousin, the common wasp. We largely feed on flies and when was the last time you heard of a hornet actually stinging a human? Mind you, there are a few I wouldn’t mind jabbing given half a chance!
Ok, it is true that we are partial to the odd bee (well a girl has to eat), but we are not out to destroy entire colonies. Ok, I’ll level with you, we would if we could, but a fit colony puts up a strong defence and bees are pretty fearless when it comes to defending their hive.
The Yellow Legged Hornet has changed the sentiment towards us. Now ‘hornet’ seems to be associated with an invading species that is out to decimate bees. And the Yellow-Legged Hornet might just do that, but please don’t lump us in with this nasty character. We are well armed but it is like we are frigate with cannons compared to the newcomer, which is more like a nuclear armed warship. Don’t mess with them! Their sting is indescribable. Think of loading a shotgun, lifting it up, pointing at your big toe and pulling the trigger. That doesn’t even come close to the pain associated with the sting from one of these brutes - so we are told.
Continue your fight to stop the invasion by all means, but please discriminate fairly. There is a fine balance that needs to be maintained and you could upset this. If you are out to catch Yellow-Legged Hornets then please use traps that don’t kill the passer by. If you had to say eradicate a new invasive jelly fish from the sea, you wouldn’t drag a net to catch it and thereby killing all the fish – would you? You would! Come on!
The watch-word with traps is Bycatch Friendly. Bee by catch friendly and excuse the pun. We are feisty and fair but we are not renowned for our sense of humour.
