Asian hornet sightings recorded since 2016
Updated 25 April 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asian-hornet-uk-sightings/asian-hornet-sightings-recorded-since-2016
This page will be updated with details of confirmed sightings.
Sightings are considered confirmed when a specimen has been analysed by an official laboratory with a positive outcome.
There have been 3 confirmed sighting of Asian hornet in the UK in 2024.
There have been a total of 104 confirmed sightings of Asian hornet since 2016. This figure includes a total of 85 nests, all of which were destroyed.
Read guidance on how to spot and report an Asian hornet from the Great Britain Non-Native Species Secretariat.
2024: confirmed sightings
Confirmed sightings in April
- Four Oaks, Kent: 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, Kent: 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