Guidance

Laboratory confirmed sightings of yellow-legged hornet (also known as Asian hornet) since 2016

Updated 3 December 2024

You can report sightings of the yellow-legged hornet using the reporting form managed by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

For help identifying yellow-legged hornets, see the Non-Native Species Secretariat’s identification guide.

This page lists the confirmed sightings of yellow-legged hornet in the UK each year.

Sightings are considered confirmed when a specimen has been analysed by an official laboratory with a positive outcome.

There have been 45 confirmed sightings of yellow-legged hornet in the UK in 2024.

There have been a total of 145 confirmed sightings of yellow-legged hornet since 2016. This figure includes a total of 110 nests, all of which were destroyed.

2024: confirmed sightings

Confirmed sightings in November

• Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex: 12 November – nest destroyed
• South Alkham, Kent: 1 November – nest destroyed
• Udimore, East Sussex: 1 November – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in October

• Coldred, Kent: 25 October – nest destroyed
• Great Maxfield, East Sussex: 16 October – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in September

• Great Maxfield, East Sussex: 26 September – nest destroyed
• Southampton, Hampshire: 24 September – nest destroyed
• Rye Harbour, East Sussex: 9 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Ardingly, West Sussex: 9 September – nest destroyed
• Lydd, Folkestone & Hythe, Kent: 8 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Dymchurch, Kent: 5 September – nest destroyed
• Baldslow, East Sussex: 3 September – nest destroyed
• Elham, Kent: 3 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Goodnestone, Kent: 3 September – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in August

• Temple Ewell, Kent: 30 August – nest destroyed
• Lydden, Kent: 27 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Alkham, Kent: 27 August – nest destroyed
• Ramsgate, Kent: 22 August – nest destroyed
• Great Maxfield, East Sussex: 2 August – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in July

• Barham, Kent: 4 July – single hornet captured

Confirmed sightings in June

• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 6 June – single hornet captured
• Martin’s Mill, Kent: 4 June – single hornet captured

Confirmed sightings in May

• Martin’s Mill, Kent: 30 May – single hornet captured
• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 30 May – single hornet captured
• Etchinghill, Kent: 30 May – single hornet captured
• St Margarets Bay, Kent: 24 May – single hornet captured
• Canterbury, Kent: 24 May – nest destroyed
• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 22 May – single hornet captured
• Alkham, Kent: 22 May – single hornet captured
• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 21 May – single hornet captured
• Etchinghill, Kent: 17 May – single hornet captured
• Denton, Kent: 17 May – single hornet captured
• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 13 May – single hornet captured
• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 13 May – single hornet captured
• Lympne, Kent: 10 May – single hornet captured

Confirmed sightings in April

• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 25 April – single hornet captured
• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 24 April – single hornet captured
• Four Oaks, East Sussex: 16 April – single hornet captured

Confirmed sightings in March

• Romford, East London: 27 March – single hornet captured
• Ash, Kent: 11 March – single hornet captured

2023: confirmed sightings

Confirmed sightings in November

• Rye, East Sussex: 15 November – nest destroyed
• Tenterden, Kent: 1 November – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in October

• Folkestone, Kent: 27 October – nest destroyed
• Canterbury, Kent: 24 October – nest destroyed
• Dover, Kent: 17 October – nest destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 17 October – nest destroyed
• Ashford, Kent: 12 October – nest destroyed
• Deal, Kent: 4 October
• Canterbury, Kent: 4 October – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in September

• Southampton, Hampshire: 29 September – nest destroyed
• Dover, Kent: 27 September – nest destroyed
• Oxted, Surrey: 26 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Yarm, North Yorkshire: 25 September – nest destroyed
• Hackney, London: 22 September – nest destroyed
• Eastbourne, East Sussex: 20 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Tenterden, Kent: 18 September – nest destroyed 
• Southampton, Hampshire: 15 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Lower Herne, Kent: 15 September – nest destroyed 
• Deal, Kent: 15 September – nest destroyed
• Hull, Yorkshire: 15 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Hastings, East Sussex: 15 September – nest destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 15 September – nest destroyed
• Southend on Sea, Essex: 14 September – nest destroyed
• Dover, Kent: 4 September – 2 nests destroyed
• Dover, Kent: 1 September – nest destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 1 September – nest destroyed
• West Downs, Kent: 1 September – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in August

• Canterbury, Kent: 26 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Rochester, Kent: 25 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Thamesmead, London: 22 August – nest destroyed
• Maidstone, Kent: 22 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Dover, Kent: 22 August – nest destroyed
• Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent: 21 August – nest destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 16 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Maidstone, Kent: 15 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Newhaven, East Sussex: 15 August – nest destroyed
• Deal, Kent: 14 August – nest destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 14 August – (2 separate sightings) 4 nests destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 11 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 10 August – 7 nests destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 9 August – nest destroyed
• Maidstone, Kent: 7 August – 2 nests destroyed
• Portland, Dorset: 7 August – nest destroyed
• Deal, Kent: 6 August – nest destroyed
• Folkestone, Kent: 4 August – nest destroyed
• Portland, Dorset: 4 August – nest destroyed
• Whitstable, Kent: 3 August – nest destroyed
• Deal, Kent: 2 August – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in July

• Plymouth, Devon: 27 July – 2 nests destroyed
• Dover, Kent: 26 July – single hornet captured
• Gravesend, Kent: 24 July – nest destroyed
• Shepherdswell, Kent: 5 July – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in June

• Deal, Kent: 28 June – nest destroyed

Confirmed sightings in May

• Canterbury, Kent: 31 May – single hornet captured
• Ashford, Kent: 23 May – single hornet captured

Confirmed sightings in April

• Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland: 11 April – single hornet captured

2022: confirmed sightings

• Rayleigh, Essex: 27 September – nest destroyed on 30 September
• Felixstowe, Suffolk: 29 April – single hornet captured

2021: confirmed sightings

• Portsmouth, Hampshire: 29 October – nest destroyed on 31 October
• Ascot, Berkshire: 8 October – nest destroyed on 11 October

2020: confirmed sightings

• Gosport, Hampshire: 8 September – nest destroyed on 11 September

2019: confirmed sightings

• Christchurch, Dorset: 10 October – nest destroyed
• Christchurch, Dorset: 1 October – nest destroyed
• Ashford, Kent: 9 September – single hornet captured
• Tamworth area, Staffordshire: 2 September – nest destroyed
• New Milton, Hampshire: 3 July – single hornet captured

2018: confirmed sightings

• Dungeness, Kent: 15 October – single hornet captured
• Guildford, Surrey: 28 September – single dead hornet
• Brockenhurst, Hampshire: 26 September – nest destroyed
• New Alresford, Hampshire: 24 September – nest destroyed
• Fowey, Cornwall: 20 September – nest destroyed
• Hull, Yorkshire: 9 September – single dead hornet
• Liskeard, Cornwall: 7 September – single dead hornet
• Fowey, Cornwall: 3 September – nest destroyed
• Bury, Lancashire: 13 April – single hornet sighted with photograph

2017: confirmed sightings

• Woolacombe, Devon: 26 September – nest destroyed

2016: confirmed sightings

• Bath, Somerset: 13 October – single hornet captured
• Lower Langford, Somerset: 30 September – single hornet captured
• Tetbury, Gloucestershire: 19 September – nest destroyed