'Game-changing' Asian hornet tracker leads to nest

The tracking technique involves attaching a tinsel strip to the insect

Guernsey's Asian hornet team has destroyed another nest this summer following the introduction of a "game-changing" tinsel tracking system.

The States of Guernsey said the technique involved temporarily disabling the insect in order to glue onto it a long visible strip which helps track it back to its nest, extending the distance it can be followed and viewed through binoculars.

Officials said the nest was about the size of a football and was the second of its kind found in the Saints Bay valley within two years.

Francis Russell, project coordinator for the Asian Hornet Strategy, said: "The 'tinsel tracking' technique proved to be a gamechanger in this latest Asian hornet encounter."

The nest is about the size of a football

He added: "These more innovative methods of tracking will therefore be instrumental in helping identify and remove nests more quickly."

Officials said the technique was devised by Jersey hornet researcher Chris Isaacs and passed on to the States of Guernsey's Asian hornet team.

They said a member of the public reported the presence of Asian hornets in the area before bait stations were used to verify it.

"The Asian hornet team were then able to access the top level of the Saints Bay loophole tower to help further locate the nest – which was eventually identified after going through nearly 120m of dense blackthorn scrub," officials said.

"It [the nest] has now been neutralised and retrieved by the Asian hornet team to be frozen and destroyed."

'Exciting experience'

Mr Russell said: "The nests we've discovered this summer appear to be more developed than those found in previous years, as the fine weather seems to have allowed for uninterrupted nest building and foraging."

Nik Carre, land management and Asian hornet officer for agriculture, countryside and land management services, said tracking the nest was a "hugely rewarding and exciting experience".

He added: "As a former tree surgeon, I was able to deploy my skills and experience to help locate what proved to be a difficult-to-reach nest.

"Our team is grateful to both the public for bringing it to our attention and to Museum Services for providing us access to the loophole tower to help us find it."