Photograph credit:  Chris Green On the 20th and 21st of March the National Bee Unit received credible reports of lone Asian hornets. The first was in Preston, Lancashire at a warehouse with regular trucks arriving from France. A bee inspector attended, set traps and is monitoring the location with support from the…

Our Asian hornet monitoring fact sheet has been updated (Welsh version). The update includes information on a small selection of commercially available selective traps that can be used for spring monitoring and guidance on setting up monitoring stations for summer monitoring.     

Photo credit G K Bradbury An Asian hornet was found in a potting shed by a member of the Ash Horticultural Society, Kent on Friday 8th March and reported through the Asian Hornet watch app. The hornet was collected by an Animal and Plant Health Agency bee inspector the same…

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Over 8,500 beekeepers updated their details on BeeBase during the 2023 hive count compared to over 11,000 in 2022. There are currently more than 49,000 beekeepers registered on BeeBase and approximately 18% of those contacted updated their records. The 2023 hive count produced a figure of 252,577 colonies in the UK.…

The National Bee Unit has several vacancies for Seasonal Bee Inspectors (SBIs) across England and Wales. If you are interested in applying for the job, please follow this link that will take you to the vacancy advertised in the Civil Service Jobs and apply before 11:55 pm on Thursday 29th…

From the analysis conducted at Fera Science Ltd a number of areas have been identified where there is a low risk that Asian hornet queens have overwintered. In response the NBU are making plans to carry out spring trapping, including how to work collaboratively with stakeholders to monitor traps at…

From the analysis conducted at Fera Science Ltd a number of areas have been identified where there is a low risk that Asian hornet queens have overwintered. In response the NBU are making plans to carry out spring trapping, including how to work collaboratively with stakeholders to monitor traps at…

An Inspector from the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA), National Bee Unit has responded to a sighting of a lone Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina) in Westfield, Hastings, East Sussex on 19 January 2024 following a report by a member of the public after discovering it in the footwell of…

Monday 22nd January Whilst we investigate a issue with the My Apiaries page, which allows you to add and edit apiary details, we have temporarily removed beekeeper’s access to the page. If you need to update your apiary details, please do return in a few days.  We apologise for the…