The latest update from the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s National Bee Unit (NBU) on yellow-legged hornet is included below:
"As of 27 August, the NBU has received further credible reports of YLH. To date there have been 157 sightings in 2026 resulting in the identification of 49 nests. The nests confirmed this week are recorded in the following locations:
Hampshire
- Newtown (secondary)
Kent
- Byways (secondary)
- Petham 2 (secondary)
- Crabble (secondary)
- Park Farm, Ashford (secondary)
- Capel Le Ferne (secondary)
- Seabrook (primary)
Lincolnshire
- Immingham (primary)
The following nests are awaiting destruction: Capel Le Ferne and Crabble in Kent; Littlebredy in Dorset; Chadderton in Greater Manchester; and Immingham in Lincolnshire.
The NBU is carrying out track and trace at locations across East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Somerset, and West Sussex.
Multiple sightings continue to be monitored by the NBU, local beekeepers and Yellow-legged hornet teams at locations across East Sussex, Essex, Greater London, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset and West Sussex."
For information on previous yellow-legged hornet sightings this year, please visit the website of the National Bee Unit.
We would be most grateful for your support in helping to raise awareness and encourage reporting of any further sightings. Free alert posters and ID sheets are available on request to help with awareness raising.
Any suspected sightings should ideally be reported via the Asian Hornet Watch app or the online reporting form. For further details on identification and reporting, please visit the yellow-legged hornet alert page.
Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Week
From 7-13 September 2026, the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) is leading Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Week to raise awareness of yellow-legged hornet and the importance of reporting sightings.
For more information, please visit the BBKA website. You can help by following the social media channels below and sharing content that they post throughout the week: