A ‘sticky strip’ attached to a worker Asian hornet had led to the second nest of the summer being located and destroyed.
The nest was the size of a football. It was found in the Saints Bay Valley – the second of its kind in the area in as many years.
The Asian Hornet Team used the novel technique which was developed by Jersey’s hornet researcher Chris Isaacs.
It enhances the visibility of the insects by attaching a long strip to them so it can be tracked back to its nest.
The team were alerted to hornets in the area by the public, and bait stations placed in the area confirmed the reports.
The team scaled the Saints Bay loophole tower to identify the nest which was buried over 100 metres deep in blackthorn scrub.
Francis Russel, Project Coordinating for the Asian hornet team, said the tinsel tracking method was a “gamechanger”.
“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,” he said.
“These more innovative methods of tracking will therefore be instrumental in helping identify and remove nests more quickly.”
Nik Carre, Asian Hornet Officer at Agriculture, Countryside & Land Management, added that the experience was “hugely rewarding and exciting.
“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.”