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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Last edited by gavin; 20-09-2016 at 02:13 PM.

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    Yep....got a direct email this morning Gavin.

    Its a mere 13 miles as the crow flies from my bees near Cirencester and Swindon.

    Not going to over react though, as in much of France, particular pockets aside, its serious nuisance rather than a disaster. Will see what unfolds over the seasons to come. Will be quite a while before it builds up to something major, if ever.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calluna4u View Post
    Yep....got a direct email this morning Gavin.

    Its a mere 13 miles as the crow flies from my bees near Cirencester and Swindon.
    That's worrying (for you).

    This paper has maps with predictions based on climate data that seem reassuring for Scotland. However I've been a scientist long enough to know that the value of predictive modelling can be ... well, not as great as it seems at the time. It isn't always climate that matters but - for a free living social hornet - climate possibly is king.

    http://www.nev.nl/pages/publicaties/...s/22/39-46.pdf

    It is said that perhaps the biggest issue with it is that the presence of the hornet causes colonies to shut down foraging - hence it may strongly depress honey yields.

    G.
    Last edited by gavin; 20-09-2016 at 04:23 PM.

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    Senior Member Greengage's Avatar
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    OK Im no scientist either, but one Hornet is not a plague, how did it arrive and will it survive.Did I read here or somewhere else a beekeeper had a problem eating with his dog eating his honey bees he equated this to a loss in honey production and had the dog put down, when asked how many bees the dog was eating a week he guesstimated 30.???

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Asian hornet in Gloucestershire ... disappointing but perhaps inevitable news.

    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    It is said that perhaps the biggest issue with it is that the presence of the hornet causes colonies to shut down foraging - hence it may strongly depress honey yields.

    G.
    I may never notice if it arrives in Fife ...

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    Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
    That's worrying (for you).

    It is said that perhaps the biggest issue with it is that the presence of the hornet causes colonies to shut down foraging - hence it may strongly depress honey yields.

    G.
    Not greatly worried. What will be will be. Not going to be losing any sleep over it any time soon and in the end a problem presents challenges that filter out those who cannot or choose not to cope with it.

    Its terribly easy to get over stressed and there are plenty out there who like ratchetting up the worry levels.

    As for the reduced honey crop. The percentage reduction from approx. zero in that area this year does not cause issues lol.....but most years its a good area.

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    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Tetbury is much further North and West than I'd have expected landfall ... I wouldn't be at all surprised to find additional sites closer to the South coast and/or in Kent. I'm assuming it/they/she arrived self-propelled on predominantly southerly winds.

    I've skim-read the paper on climate modelling (thanks Gavin) ... Figure 3 is somewhat less than reassuring (where they match climatic regions with an area - Limoges - where the hornet is already established in France) but the rest looks OK for us North of the border ... remembering of course that modelling is an informed prediction (or 'often wrong' as some scientists say).

    Perhaps we should all hope for a really brutal winter.

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    Administrator gavin's Avatar
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    It is said that long distance movement could be by natural dispersal or man-assisted via hitchhiking, the horticultural trade, or the timber trade as it can hibernate under bark.

    Given that a worker was detected in Tetbury it seems very likely that at least one queen has established a nest in the area. Bad news as, by this time of the year, sexual forms may well be dispersing.

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