Yellow-legged hornet: pest-specific contingency plan.

Introduction

1. The yellow-legged hornet, formerly known as the Asian hornet is a highly aggressive non-native predator of pollinating insects, including honey bees. Any incursion of the Yellow-legged hornet in Scotland requires immediate action to prevent establishment and significant harm to our population of bees and other pollinators.

2. This plan sets out the role of the Scottish Government in response to a suspected or confirmed incursion of the Yellow-legged hornet within Scotland: the actions to be taken as well as governance, roles and responsibilities. This plan also describes how the ongoing response will be reviewed as well as the transition to business as usual, either after eradication, or following the introduction of a Yellow-legged hornet management plan which will manage and mitigate the impact of Yellow-legged hornet populations in Scotland if eradication is not deemed possible.

3. The response steps to a possible, negated, and confirmed sightings are:

• Alert
• Triage
• Search
• Identification
• Confirmation
• Co-ordination and response
• Post-incident management

4. The plan is for the use of staff from the Scottish Government, SASA, NatureScot and affiliated organisations in the event of a potential or confirmed incursion.