Hunt for underground nest after ‘murder hornets’ seen in Europe for first time

Published

6 months ago

December 6, 2024

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Scientists in Spain are trying to find an underground nest belonging to the first southern giant hornets to be spotted in Europe.

The invasive insects, sometimes referred to as “murder hornets” because they are known to kill off beehives, can grow up to around 1.3 inches in length.

They are not to be confused with Asian hornets (Vespa velutina) which were confirmed to have survived a UK winter for the first time this year.

Both species are native to Asia and known to eat honeybees, but southern giant hornets (Vespa soror) are different because they build their nests underground.

They are also slightly larger than Asian hornets, which tend to be around an inch long.

There is no suggestion that southern giant hornets have been sighted in the UK.

However, scientist Omar Sanchez, lead author of a study into the sightings in Spain, said it was likely the species would be “detected again in other localities of Spain and probably Europe“.

So far there have been two separate sightings of the insects in the northern city of Siero, in Spain’s Asturias province, according to the study published in the Ecology and Evolution journal last month.

A pair of the hornets were spotted in March 2022 before another two were seen in October 2023.

‘Bad effects’

Researchers believe they have a nest that dates back at least a year.

Mr Sanchez, a zoology professor at the University of Oviedo, and his study’s co-authors found and captured the four hornets.

They then extracted DNA samples and conducted genetic testing and analysis to confirm the species.

The scientists believe the southern giant hornets likely first arrived in Spain on a cargo ship.

Mr Sanchez said he expects the insects to impact the balance of the local ecosystem because they aggressively hunt native hornets, bees, butterflies, moths and flies.

He added: “A long-term decline in the bee population can affect the availability of honey and disrupt pollination processes on which many plants and crops rely.”

Mr Sanchez also said that Asian hornets in Spain are already “causing serious damage to the beekeeping sector” and so the presence of southern giant hornets will “magnify the bad effects”.

The scientist said researchers are therefore trying to find the nest so they can destroy it.

‘Slaughter phase’

“It’s a little bit tricky because this species makes their nest under the ground – more than 30 meters – so it is not easy to find. We are trying,” Mr Sanchez said.

The insects are known to send out scouting teams to find beehives to prey on, according to research published in 2021.

The scouts then rub their bodies against the hive or nearby vegetation to signal others to join them, the study adds.

The southern giant hornets then enter a “slaughter phase” in which they can take out entire beehives in a matter of hours.

Mr Sanchez also said the insect’s sting can be “very painful and long-lasting” for humans.

World

The fight for the Arctic – where climate change is giving Russia room to manoeuvre

Published

6 hours ago

May 29, 2025

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The fight for the Arctic - where climate change is giving Russia room to manoeuvre

The twin threats of climate change and Russian malign activity in the Arctic must be taken “deadly seriously,” David Lammy has warned.

Sky News joined him on the furthest reaching tour of the Arctic by a British foreign secretary.

We travelled to Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago that is the most northern settled land on Earth, 400 miles from the North Pole.

It is at the heart of an Arctic region facing growing geopolitical tension and feeling the brunt of climate change.

Mr Lammy told us the geopolitics of the region must be taken “deadly seriously” due to climate change and “the threats we’re seeing from Russia”.

We witnessed the direct impact of climate change along Svalbard’s coastline and inland waterways. There is less ice, we were told, compared to the past.

The melting ice is opening up the Arctic and allowing Russia more freedom to manoeuvre.

“We do see Russia’s shadow fleet using these waters,” Mr Lammy said. “We do see increased activity from submarines with nuclear capability under our waters and we do see hybrid sabotage of undersea cables at this time.”

In Tromso, further south, the foreign secretary was briefed by Norwegian military commanders.

Vice Admiral Rune Andersen, the Chief of Norwegian Joint Headquarters, told Sky News the Russian threat was explicit.

“Russia has stated that they are in confrontation with the West and are utilising a lot of hybrid methods to undermine Western security,” he said.

But it’s not just Vladimir Putin they’re worried about. Norwegian observers are concerned by US president Donald Trump’s strange relationship with the Russian leader too.

Karsten Friis, a Norwegian defence and security analyst, told Sky News: “If he’s too soft on Putin, if he is kind of normalising relations with Russia, I wouldn’t be surprised.

“I would expect Russia to push us, to test us, to push borders, to see what we can do as Europeans.”

Changes in the Arctic mean new challenges for the NATO military alliance – including stepping up activity to deter threats, most of all from Russia.

In Iceland, we toured a NATO airbase with the foreign secretary.

There, he said maintaining robust presence in the Arctic was essential for western security.

“Let’s be clear, in this challenging geopolitical moment the high north and the Arctic is a heavily contested arena and we should be under no doubt that NATO and the UK need to protect it for our own national security.”

This is also about distracting Russia, drawing away resources that could have been used in the war in Ukraine and deterring it in the future.

Because the more Arctic opens up, the more this once pristine wilderness is becoming the arena of national rivalry and potentially conflict.

World

‘What did they do to be burned and bombed?’: Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment

Published

12 hours ago

May 29, 2025

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'What did they do to be burned and bombed?': Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment

A British charity has written to the prime minister and foreign secretary, urging them to allow seriously ill children from Gaza into the UK to receive life-saving medical treatment.

Warning: This article contains images readers may find distressing

The co-founder of Project Pure Hope told Sky News it was way past the time for words.

“Now, we need action,” Omar Dinn said.

He’s identified two children inside Gaza who urgently need help and is appealing to the UK government to issue visas as a matter of urgency.

Israel-Gaza latest: Netanyahu reportedly accepts US ceasefire plan

Britain has taken only two patients from Gaza for medical treatment in 20 months of Israeli bombardment.

“Most of the people affected by this catastrophe that’s unfolding in Gaza are children,” he continued. “And children are the most vulnerable.

“They have nothing to do with the politics, and we really just need to see them for what they are.

“They are children, just like my children, just like everybody’s children in this country – and we have the ability to help them.”

Sky News has been sent video blogs from British surgeons working in Gaza right now which show the conditions and difficulties they’re working under.

They prepare for potential immediate evacuation whilst facing long lists, mainly of children, needing life-saving emergency treatment day after day.

Dr Victoria Rose told us: “Every time I come, I say it’s really bad, but this is on a completely different scale now. It’s mass casualties. It’s utter carnage.

“We are incapable of getting through this volume. We don’t have the personnel. We don’t have the medical supplies. And we really don’t have the facilities.

“We are the last standing hospital in the south of Gaza. We really are on our knees now.”

One of her patients is three-year-old Hatem, who was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family apartment.

His pregnant mother and father were both killed, leaving him an orphan. He has 35 percent burns on his small body.

“It’s a massive burn for a little guy like this,” Dr Rose says. “He’s so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt.”

Hatem’s grandfather barely leaves his hospital bedside. Hatem Senior told us: “What did these children do wrong to suffer such injuries? To be burned and bombed? We ask God to grant them healing.”

The second child identified by the charity is Karam, who, aged one, is trying to survive in a tent in deeply unhygienic surroundings with a protruding intestine.

He’s suffering from a birth defect called Hirschsprung disease, which could be easily operated on with the right skills and equipment – unavailable to him in Gaza right now.

Karam’s mother Manal told our Gaza camera crew: “No matter how much I describe how much my son is suffering, I wouldn’t be able to describe it enough. I swear I am constantly crying.”

Children are among the bulk of casualties – some 16,000 have been killed, according to the latest figures from local health officials – and make up the majority of those being operated on, according to the British surgical team on the ground.