You’ve probably heard stories about Giant Asian Hornets before, more commonly referred to as murder hornets. They’ve been found in many areas around the globe and they are a dangerous and invasive species.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 You've probably heard stories
00:05 about giant Asian hornets before,
00:07 more commonly referred to as murder hornets.
00:10 They've been found in many areas around the globe
00:12 and they're a dangerous and invasive species.
00:14 Now a beekeeper in the UK has chronicled his fight
00:17 against the large insects,
00:19 showing just how destructive they can be.
00:21 This is Peter Down and he says despite setting up kill traps
00:25 all over his property,
00:26 the hornets have still decimated his apiary.
00:28 - Devastation for me is suffering with mental health.
00:32 My bees are my way, my way out of my mental health.
00:35 They help me absolutely.
00:36 And physically watching Asian hornets coming in,
00:39 hawking my bees, grabbing them and flying off with them
00:43 and leaving my bees in distress
00:45 isn't for me something that I really wanna watch.
00:48 - That's because Down says he's lost 14 of his 16 beehives
00:52 to murder hornets this season alone.
00:54 And even though he still has a few hives left,
00:55 the murder hornets presence is still having an impact
00:58 on his remaining hives.
00:59 - This year we've lost our honey production
01:02 because obviously our bees are so stressed,
01:05 they're not producing the honey that they need to,
01:07 which means in some ways they're not producing
01:09 the stores that they need for the winter
01:10 to survive the winter.
01:11 - Down says that things continue to look grim
01:13 for the apiary as well,
01:15 as despite the National Bee Unit doing a sweep
01:17 and destruction of any Asian hornet nest nearby,
01:19 he continues to find the insects near his hive.
01:22 (upbeat music)
01:25 (upbeat music)