Asian Hornet

The Yellow Legged Hornet (or Asian Hornet)

The Yellow Legged Hornet is the "beast from the east", but now it is here in the UK!


Yellow Legged hornets prey on our native honey bees by "hawking" in front of a hive. They will grab a bee inflight, remove and reject its head and take the remaining parts of the bee back to their own nests and feed this protein rich food to their own young. A Yellow Legged hornet can kill hundreds of honey bees in a day. You can see a BBC video of Yellow Legged hornets in action here. (the bee action part of this video starts after about 2 minutes)


Important! Hornets are dangerous and have very bad stings. Do not attempt to handle them. If you see any hornet, leave it alone but report it here if you think it is a Yellow Legged Hornet. A good plan would be to have the Asian Hornet app on your phone as it records the exact location of the siting - you can get this as a free download from your App Store


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This short video shows you how to assemble and create an Asian Hornet Trap. This has a lure and sweetness to encourage the hornets in, and it needs regular checking so you can report any that you catch. This is the really important part as the report will trigger an investigation in your area.


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This video tells you a bit more about Asian Hornets and how they will eat all our insects

Did you know 30% of all you eat is pollinated by insects and bees in particular?





This is a Yellow Legged Hornet


Note the key identifying characteristics:


  • Generally dark appearance
  • Orange band on abdomen
  • Yellow socks (lower legs only are yellow)


The images below are NOT Yellow Legged Hornets






This is a European Hornet and is very common in the UK. It is slightly larger than an Asian Hornet, but looks a lot like a common wasp. It is much bigger than a wasp






This is a Common Wasp. It is much smaller than a European hornet but looks similar





This is a Queen Wasp. It is almost as big as a European hornet and looks similar. It is generally seen in the spring and autumn

For more information on the life cycle of the Yellow Legged Hornet, visit the National Bee Unit website, Beebase here
If you see what you think is an asian hornet, please report it in one of the following ways:

   or

  • Download the "Asian Hornet Watch" app from the Appstore on your smartphone, and complete the report form


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