9 March, 2026

No more hornets found but vigilance urged before winter hibernation

Wired… Hornet with tracker attached

No further yellow-legged hornets have been found in Takapuna and Forrest Hill, a month after the first detections in the two suburbs.
Biosecurity New Zealand Commissioner North Mike Inglis said no more detections had been made in Takapuna, where a nest with a queen inside was destroyed, or in Forrest Hill, where two nests were found. “Nor have they been detected in Hauraki or further south on the Devonport peninsula.”
But Inglis said people should stay on the alert for signs of the yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina). Extra street signs had been put up recently to spread the word.
Due to more surveillance, more sightings were expected and these were valuable before winter when the pest hibernated and became harder to spot.
By 2 March, there had been 62 confirmed queen hornets and 81 nests (48 of them containing a queen) found on the North Shore, with finds still centred in the Glenfield area. The public has reported 13,957 suspected finds to authorities.
The hornet, a type of wasp, is a threat to honey bees. The non-native species was first spotted in October.
Since then, efforts to eradicate it have been aided by adopting tracking methods from overseas, including attaching transmitters to live hornets.

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