Hornet Surveillance Still Going Strong – Beekeepers Encouraged to Stay Vigilant

It was October and November last year when yellow-legged hornet nests began to emerge en masse, but so far in spring 2026 all is quiet around the previosuly hot spot of Auckland’s North Shore. That doesn’t mean Biosecurity New Zealand (BNZ) is getting complacent though the New Zealand Bee Health and Biosecurity AGM heard on October 30, and nor should beekeepers.

In total, since October 2025, 4646 confirmed hornet specimens have been taken in Auckland from 77 queens and 133 nests, BNZ response manager Sid Wales informed the meeting. But none since April.

The location of nearly 12,000 Vespex stations deployed in the incursion response to yellow-legged hornet.  

“It looks really positive but we need to maintain some level of surveillance to confirm that,” Wales says.

“We are not taking our foot off the throat yet.”

It’s a continuation of the “cautiously optimistic” line which BNZ and the Ministry for Primary Industries staff have been using all winter.

The level of surveillance still being taken is based largely off 1200 traps around the North Shore area and Rongiatoto Island. These traps are checked weekly Wales says, and there is a plan to respond should a hornet(s) present.

Radio tracking tech has helped track hornets back to their nests. 

A hornet would be caught from the trap, marked and observed as to their direction of travel. The trap is then moved gradually in that direction to determine distance from the nest, based off the time taken for the pest to return to the feeder. If that method doesn’t locate the nest, radio trackers will be applied to the hornet.

“It proved to be really effective at finding and destroying hornet nests,” Wales says.

It is hoped that it has been such an effective method that there will be none left to find this season. Also utilised in the search for nests have been AI cameras on feeding stations which reduces staff hours to monitor them; thermal drones for nest finding; eDNA testing of waterways; and 12,000 fipronil-laced Vespex stations deployed in late-autumn.

“It’s going to be interesting to see what effect this has on the local wasp population. Hopefully that is a side benefit,” Wales says of the extensive Vespex programme.

A Hornet Champions network continues to work with those members of the public seeking to keep awareness and knowledge of the incursion front of mind for Kiwis. A wider spring public engagement campaign is underway, including meeting with beekeeping clubs and groups.

The message to beekeepers is clear: remain vigilant, put out traps, and tell BNZ about where they are, and continue to be on the lookout for unusual activity in your apiaries.

“Eradication is the ultimate goal and we are in a really good position to achieve that,” Wales says.

Confirmed eradication will take two years of no sightings of the yellow-legged-hornet.