2 December, 2025

Local environmentalists join battle against invader

North Shore volunteers are joining the fight to eliminate yellow-legged hornets, setting traps in locations beyond the immediate focus of Biosecurity New Zealand efforts.
The campaign to locate and eliminate the pest (pictured), first identified in October, is stepping up.
Trapping has been extended to 5km from confirmed hornet sites in Glenfield and Birkdale. By 24 November 19 queen hornets had been found in those suburbs. Twelve of the queens were nesting and one nest had two workers hornets.
A specialist from the UK’s hornet response team has been called in to give training and advice. Biosecurity New Zealand wants the public to report sightings, but only if they have a specimen, a clear photo, or have located a possible nest.
Environmental group Pupuke Birdsong Project, which covers the northern half of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area, has sent its volunteers instructions for making traps. Its Devonport-based counterpart, Restoring Takarunga Hauraki (RTH), has set traps in Devonport peninsula reserves.
Hornet queens are able to fly more than 30km to establish new nests. The pests are aggressive towards people and eat honeybees and native bees. Their establishment in New Zealand would threaten both commercial horticulture and native ecosystems.
Home traps are simple to make. They can be fashioned from a plastic bottle with two 25mm square upside-down U-shapes cut on opposite sides, halfway up the bottle, leaving flaps to be pushed inside the bottle. A mixture of a cup of beer, a tablespoon of sugar, a dash of vinegar (to deter bees) and a few drops of dishwashing liquid should then be placed inside.
Home traps need to be monitored and efforts made to distinguish the yellow-legged hornet from local wasp species. The hornet has distinctive dark legs with bright yellow tips. Common wasp species in New Zealand typically have uniformly yellow or yellow-striped legs, and are much smaller.

Sightings can be reported on Biosecurity New Zealand’s 24-hour pest hotline:
0800 809 966.

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