Man stung 30 times by Asian Hornets in France

It’s not that Asian Hornets venom is anymore toxic than our native hornet and wasps, or even that they are more aggressive away from their nest. It’s more about where Asian Hornets are increasingly choosing to make their nest.

I’ve chosen a few recent cases to illustrate this.

In Montmorillon, Vienne, a 76 year old man was stung more than 30 times by Asian Hornets in his garden when cutting a small hedge outside his house on the 30th of October 2019.

When his wife came to his assistance he was covered in hornets and she was stung 5 times before neighbours arrived with thick clothing and managed with the use of wasp sprays to get him away from them. He was transported to the hospital by the Pompiers to receive treatment.

The couple had never noticed the presence of the hornets in the hedge which is about 50cm high.

Earlier in the year on 1st August, in the Nantes area another man was stung more than 10 times when he disturbed an Asian Hornet nest in the water meter box and fortunately suffered no serious effects, however the day before at Grayan-et-l'Hôpital, Gironde, a woman died following multiple stings when she disturbed an Asian Hornet nest at about 1.5 metres from the ground when going to her post box.

In these and most other cases attacks occur when nests are disturbed, whether that is Wasps, Bees or Hornets. I have myself suffered the consequences of putting a brush cutter into a wasp nest at ground level and know how easy it is to hack away without first looking for any obvious nest activity. 

What’s becoming increasingly clear for anyone that has been following the evolving situation with Asian Hornets year on year is that they are increasingly making their nests close to the ground. This inevitably leads to an increase in attacks. (European Hornet nests are always under cover in buildings or hollow trees making accidental disturbance less likely).

Other than in a handful of cases a year in France very few people actually die from stings.

More about stings LINK HERE

Chris

Bees in a bird box and swarm in a house

I have come across plenty of honeybee colonies that have set up home in the roofs of houses, and when necessary, have even been known to remove them when the roof was about to be renovated and it would have been too dangerous for the roofers to work. Otherwise I always encourage people to leave them alone as they present no problems for the homeowners and should be seen as a privilege in the same way as we do when swallows, house martins, wrens and other birds choose to share our property.

I have also seen honeybees nest in all manner of other places, old milk churns, compost bins, in windows and so on, but yesterday, one way or another, was a bonus day, (I’m easily pleased).

An acquaintance called and asked if I would mind taking a look at what was happening at their house where, for a few days, they had seen activity under the eaves on one corner of their house and weren’t sure if it was bees or wasps.

I arrived there at around 10am and really there wasn’t much to see, just a very small number of honeybees floating around showing no particular interest in any one spot. While we were talking another man came up the road who was introduced to me as Andy.  Andy lives just down the road and in the general course of conversation he said that he had bees living in an owl box he had installed. Needless to say I asked if I could see them and my first thought was that they would be Bombus hypnorum,  the tree Bumblebee, (or New Garden Bumblebee as they are sometimes known). He said they were smaller than a bumblebee and when we got there it was abundantly clear that it was a very active honeybee colony. The box, that had been made for Little Owls that are also present in this small hamlet, was placed in a stone wall in the aperture that had once been a small square window. As we moved away from there to return we saw a cloud of insects over a nearby field and as I walked towards them I realised it was a swarm of bees and soon they were everywhere in  an expanding cloud. As they moved off at a moderate speed we followed them up the road, over the roofs and straight to the corner of the house where the original activity had been observed. There we were in the middle of perhaps 15 or 20 thousand bees as they made their way into the roof, and, although I have seen plenty of bees swarming into a hive this is the first time I have actually seen them moving into a roof.

Click on photos to enlarge

The owners of the house say they can stay there and I hope that is the case.

Chris

France and the banning of neonicotinoid insecticides

France Becomes The First Country To Ban All Five Pesticides Linked To Bee Deaths.

Most of us will have seen this or similarly worded headlines on a myriad of mainstream media sites, blogs, alternative information sites and sites that are simply click bait for advertising revenue. Many of these so called articles are full of sensational erroneous statements and speculations that have no factual or scientific foundation what so ever.

Large numbers of people will have liked, shared and commented on these pages without any idea of what the reality is or giving it any real thought.  Most of us do this at some time or another on social media because to do otherwise would be too time consuming.

So what actually is the reality?

Yes, France has banned the use of five types of neonicotinoid insecticides that by definition have been shown to cause harm to insects.  This is two more than the EU have banned, although countries frequently derogate from the ban in certain circumstances, most recently, (Dec 2018), Belgium and some other countries are allowing sugar beet growers to use Imidacloprid as a seed treatment for 2019.  Seed treatments have been by far the main method of delivery used here in France principally on Oil Seed Rape, Maize and Sunflowers. They were also used as foliar sprays on fruit crops of most types after flowering.

However, that is not the end of the story.  Neonicotinoids are still used in flea treatments for domestic creatures and in the house plant industry.

There is little point discussing just how much, if at all, the neonicotinoids that were used in France affected honeybees, which are, after all, generally a commercially managed species here in the same way that chickens and pigs are. Overall there has been no decline in honey bee colonies.

It is however highly likely that they have contributed in no small manner to the decline of many other insect and bee species by virtue of sub lethal doses adding one more stress factor. Having said that, it’s impossible to quantify exactly what role they played against the backdrop of massive habitat loss and the large scale use of other pesticides, (some 2,500 authorised in France).

Here comes the rub. Without meaning to sound churlish, banning the five neonicotinoids in itself isn’t that big a deal when it comes to protecting the environment and saving our wildlife populations as a whole. What the ban has brought about is a return to open spraying of other pesticides, (although fungicides have always been open sprayed).  The problem is particularly bad when it comes to OSR* where the crops are sprayed when in full flower. This not only impacts all the different insects that are foraging or living there but also all the birds that nest in or along the margins of this crop.  In particular Linnet, Stone Chat, Yellow Wagtail, Corn bunting, Yellowhammer, Hen Harrier and Montague’s Harrier. Hedgehogs may also be present and foraging although not during actual spraying.

Click on image to expand

In conclusion, although this ban may be beneficial it is nowhere near enough given France is one of the greatest users of pesticides in Europe, something that is increasing at a substantial rate year on year. Huge changes have to be made if we are “to save everything” and not simply shuffle the cards using the same deck and still be killing as many species. 

OSR – Oil Seed Rape.

Pesticides – an overall generic term now used for all “cides”. Insecticides, Herbicides, Fungicides,  Rodenticides and so on.

Chris