The hornets pose no risk to human health.
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Britain’s Non-Native Species Secretariat warned: “As a highly effective predator of insects, including honey bees and other beneficial species, it can cause significant losses to bee colonies, other native species and potentially ecosystems”.
Honey bees are in decline and are central to the life of numerous crops we use to feed ourselves.
To feed the growing population, the hornets start hunting honey bees, chopping them up with their jaws and feeding them to larvae.
The hornet is considered a threat to the nearby hives of Prince Charles’ Highgrove Estate which produces its own honey.
The hornets have always been the subject of worry in the media that the “killer” insects would make their way to British shores.
The hornet first arrived in France in 2004 and is now common across large areas of Europe.
In recent years, experts in the United Kingdom have been on standby for the insect’s arrival here – most likely via imports such as plants or timber, or by flying across the Channel.
A second Asian hornet has been seen since, which experts say suggests there was a nest of the invasive species.
The hornets are about 2.5cm long, and smaller than European hornets.
Not only do Asian hornets pack a sting as painful as any wasp, they also threaten to wipe out much-loved bee colonies and threaten the nation’s honey-makers.
The government said that they had been worrying that the hornet would arrive for some years and that it had a plan to eradicate them. That’s why we are taking swift and robust action to identify and destroy any nests.
The sighting has now been confirmed by the National Bee Unit – the first official discovery of an Asian hornet in Britain.
The hornet that was discovered has been killed and has been sent for DNA testing at the National Bee Unit in North Yorkshire.
There has also been some concern over the proliferation of Indian parrots in some areas of the United Kingdom, though nobody quite knows if they arrived here during the British Raj or later.
The department has deployed bee inspectors across the area who will use infrared cameras and traps to locate any nests.
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If nests are found, disposal experts are on standby to use pesticides to kill the hornets and destroy any nests.
