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Asian Hornet Confirmed in Cork Amid Fruitful Summer
The lovely weather has meant a fabulous year for fruit and flowers. Apple tree branches are bending and the hedgerows are dripping with delicious Blackberries. Our wild pollinator population, as well as our honeybees, are feasting on pollen and nectar from the abundance of flowers. It is with this in mind I must draw your attention to a Biosecurity Alert for the Asian Hornet, a sighting of which was confirmed in Cork last week. The Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, is a predatory insect from South East Asia that poses a serious risk to our native biodiversity, particularly our honeybee population. A new government-led Asian Hornet Management Group chaired by the National Parks and Wildlife Service with the Department of Agriculture, National Biodiversity Data Centre, and the National Museum of Ireland, has been formed to coordinate the response.
