Mahurangi Honey’s Peter Johnston is with us to chat local honey making, and why bees are so important.
Large areas of Auckland are now under surveillance for yellow-legged hornets after the monitoring zone was extended to 11 kilometres across the North Shore and beyond the Harbour Bridge.
The zone was previously set at 5km around detection sites in Glenfield and Birkdale. It has now been extended after recommendationsfrom an independent technical advisory group.
“This will provide greater assurance that the hornet incursion is a single population contained to the local area and allow us to respond quickly if there has been any spread,” said Mike Inglis, Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner north.
Increased surveillance began immediately, before an expected rise in hornet foraging activity, Inglis said.
“This extended surveillance will involve working closely with more beekeepers.” More than 575 registered apiaries are within the 11km zone.
“We will be placing traps near hives and providing information to beekeepers on how to monitor and what to look for.”
The Ministry for Primary Industries said earlier today that the response team was updating the surveillance zone and map, which would show the zone extending beyond the Harbour Bridge.
The surveillance area includes Auckland’s entire CBD and stretches east to Mission Bay.
The line runs through Remuera and extends to several other suburbs, including Newmarket, Mt Albert, Mt Eden, Balmoral, Rosebank, Henderson and Westgate.
The zone extends north beyond Torbay to the top of Long Bay and covers part of Rangitoto Island.
Trapping and ground searches have expanded across the North Shore in recent weeks, with almost 650 traps in a 5km radius of detection sites.
More than 3500 properties have also been searched within 200m of confirmed finds.
Thirty-four queen hornets and 22 nests were successfully found and destroyed, which Inglis said showed the “surveillance is working well”.
Additional response measures include using different trap designs and lures, such as making sugar- or protein-based bait, along with inspections of hives near detection sites and ground surveys in reserves and residential areas.
A queen Asian yellow-legged hornet in the early stages of nest building.
Electronic tracking gear has also been purchased. With support from British experts, transmitters are attached to foraging worker hornets to trace nests.
Inglis said Biosecurity NZ was expected to find more hornets as a result of the increased surveillance, but he also stressed the need for the public and beekeepers to remain vigilant.
“We’ve had more than 5610 public notifications so far. It’s been fantastic to see such enthusiasm. We are very keen for this to continue, as it helps us respond quickly to possible detections.”
Biosecurity NZ has asked people looking for hornets and nests to check common nesting areas, including roof eaves, sheltered entrances, wooden structures, carports, under wooden decks, sheds and outbuildings.
