BEEKEEPERS are setting traps around West Cork to catch Asian hornets to stop them becoming a threat to honeybees and other pollinators.
Monitoring traps have been set up in a number of locations including Tragumna, Timoleague, Clonakilty, Rosscarbery and on the outskirts of Kinsale to help stop the spread of the invasive species.

Eleanor Attridge, of County Cork Beekeepers Association (CCBKA), says the organisation has been getting more traps out into the coastal region in time for spring.
‘We are bringing the traps in from France and they are not designed to kill,’ she said. ‘They just catch the hornets inside. The traps will let the majority of pollinators out again because they are smaller.’

After the discovery of two nests in Cork and Cobh last year, CCBKA started its fundraising drive and have raised nearly €15.000 to date. So far 250 traps have been set across the county and more than 40 Asian hornets caught.
Once a hornet gets caught, CCBKA will register the sighting on the invasives.ie website, and inform the National Parks and Wildlife Service to put a tracker on the hornet so it can be traced back to its nest.

‘The government says the traps are a waste of money and a waste of resources,’ Eleanor added.

After the destruction of two Asian hornet nests in Cork and Cobh last September, genetic testing found that there is no risk arising from the Cork nest. The test from the Cobh nest has shown there is a small risk that it was used by an Asian hornet queen.

Other beekeeping groups are taking a different approach to traps, more aligned with a task force set up by the government last year. 
‘We rely on the community at large to spot the Asian hornet and report it,’ said Mairead Love, of Fastnet Area Beekeepers Association and Irish Bee Foundation, who went on a fact-finding trip to Jersey in autumn to find out how the channel island is dealing with the invasive species.
‘I am a bit cautious about traps because you don’t want to be capturing butterflies or bees and upset our biodiversity,’ she said.

The government is preparing an updated risk assessment along with a public awareness campaign that would also target groups such as gardeners and birdwatchers. 
Christopher O’Sullivan, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, said a protocol to set out best practices in relation to the Asian hornet was very nearly finished and would be launched in the coming weeks.
‘There is no plan to conduct widespread trapping of queen hornets,’ he said. ‘This is because there is no evidence of them actually overwintering here and there is also little evidence of the effectiveness of that approach.

‘However there is plenty of evidence that trapping leads to bycatch of other species like bumblebees, honeybees, solitary bees and hoverflies. We’re keeping this under review though and of course, if we find the Asian hornet in Ireland again or evidence that it is overwintering here, we will be reconsidering it.’
The Asian hornet is twice the size of a wasp and its abdomen is almost completely black, with fine yellow stripes and a yellow or orange fourth band near the base. It has legs with yellow tips.
A spokesperson for the National Biodiversity Data Centre said: ‘During the early stage of the invasion in Ireland, a widespread trapping programme for Asian hornet is expected to be of limited effectiveness. It is only by increasing awareness of the species, accurate identification and rapid reporting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre that Ireland will effectively manage nests – preventing establishment.’
You can report sightings to the National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) at records.biodiversityireland.ie/record/invasives