The BBKA held its Asian Hornet Conference remotely on Saturday 17th of February with Nigel Simmons from the National Bee Unit providing an update and highlighting areas of concern for this coming year. He also discussed lessons learnt from last year’s experience and the changes and plans to better manage the response this year. Alastair Christie from Jersey explained how the island has kept the Asian hornet at bay for a number of years.
The final speaker was Jackie Aucott from Dover & District Beekeeping Association (D&DBA). This was an excellent presentation because it provided root and branch details of how D&DBA worked with all their members, neighbouring beekeeping associations and the National Bee Unit (NBU), to monitor, verify and destroy Asian hornet sightings, locations and nests. Jackie’s presentation demonstrated the value of a collaborative response, and shared useful lessons learned. The main lesson is to plan and organise early, engaging all those who need to be involved.
We will be focusing on how Meridian Beekeepers Association plans to respond to the Asian hornet threat as a part of our own AGM on 16 March. So watching BBKA’s Asian Hornet Conference on YouTube with the following link is recommended.
“With the south coast as our first line of defence” the BBKA are supporting those member associations along the South coast who are in need of funding to help fight the Asian hornet.
There is also a link to a fighting fund below: https://www.bbka.org.uk/appeal/save-the-bees
Author: Chris Parker (Meridian Chair)
Meridian Beekeepers’ Association 