Asian hornet: how the European bee-eater helps protect your garden

In many gardens across German-speaking Europe, the Asian hornet has become a recurring issue every summer. These insects disturb people on terraces, buzz around their heads and, above all, place beekeepers under severe pressure. Although many homeowners instinctively turn to traps or poison, current conservation reports point to a more effective solution already flying overhead – and it works entirely free of charge.

Asian hornet: why pressure in the garden is increasing

The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) is considered an invasive species in Europe. Originally from Asia, it has spread from France into several countries since the 2000s. Regions of Germany and Switzerland are now also reporting increasing numbers of sightings.

A single nest can consume more than 11 kilograms of insects in a year. A significant proportion of that prey consists of honey bees and other pollinators. This creates difficulties for beekeepers while weakening the pollination of fruit trees, vegetable crops and wildflowers.

An Asian hornet nest can produce several tens of thousands of workers in a season – enough to noticeably alter an entire region.

Many gardeners respond by using alcohol-based traps or insecticides. While these products are quick to put out, they usually catch or kill anything that enters: solitary bees, hoverflies, beetles and butterflies. Rather than reducing hornets alone, they remove an important part of the local insect community. Yet this diversity is exactly what natural predators need in order to find sufficient prey.

The unexpected ally: a colourful insect hunter

Conservationists therefore highlight a hunter that many people have seen but rarely consciously noticed: the bee-eater, more precisely the European bee-eater (Merops apiaster). This migratory bird arrives here from Africa in summer and remains until late summer.

Its plumage is strikingly colourful, combining turquoise, yellow and rusty brown with a distinctive black eye stripe. It can often be spotted perched on electricity lines, dry branches or dead treetops, from where it launches into the air to catch prey.

Research by bird conservation organisations and natural history museums shows that this bird feeds mainly on Hymenoptera – insects including wasps, bumblebees, bees and hornets. On warm days, one bee-eater can catch around 70 to 80 insects of this kind.

Where bee-eaters hunt regularly, the number of troublesome wasps and Asian hornets in the immediate area falls noticeably.

The bird is present from around mid-May until the end of August. This is precisely the period when activity at hornet nests rises sharply, making the bee-eater an opponent whose timing is particularly well matched.

How the bee-eater handles hornets without risking a sting

Its hunting technique is remarkably precise. First, the bird spots an insect in flight. It then makes a brief, rapid approach and seizes it with its long, slightly curved bill before returning to a regular perch.

There, it repeatedly strikes the prey against a branch or wire to stun it. The bird then carefully rubs the insect along the surface, removing the sting and squeezing out the venom. Only after the sting has been removed does it eat its catch. This protects the bird and allows it to consume even adult hornets safely.

How to attract bee-eaters to your garden

No one can guarantee that a bee-eater will choose to settle in a particular garden. However, it is possible to make the site far more appealing to the bird. Three measures have repeatedly proved useful in observations.

• Avoid insecticides: Garden chemicals kill not only pests but also many beneficial insects. If the food chain collapses, bee-eaters stay away because there is simply too little prey.
• Keep tall perches in place: Electricity lines, stretched washing lines, tall dead branches and mature isolated trees offer ideal lookout points. From these positions, the bird surveys the area and begins its hunting flights.
• Leave sandy banks and steep slopes undisturbed: Bee-eaters nest in tunnels they excavate themselves, often in sandy slopes, built-up embankments or unreinforced banks. Where every surface has been levelled and sealed, they cannot find a breeding site.

An open area with water is also helpful. A shallow clay dish, set slightly into the ground in an unobstructed spot, is enough. Bee-eaters often drink while flying past, skimming just above the water’s surface.

A practical example from a badly affected region in south-western Europe illustrates how straightforward this can be. A property owner left a dead tree standing at the end of the garden and stopped using sprays. A pair of bee-eaters used the tree as a lookout point throughout the summer. Hornet activity around the terrace declined noticeably, and the family could once again eat outdoors without being constantly harassed.

Bee-eaters and beekeeping: competition or a helpful partner?

The name bee-eater understandably makes many beekeepers uneasy. The bird does indeed eat honey bees as well. However, long-term observation data show that the proportion of honey bees in its diet varies and is generally far below the number destroyed by a hornet colony over the same period.

Bee-eaters hunt a wide range of prey, including:

• Asian hornets and native hornets
• Various wasp species
• Broad-winged flying insects such as horseflies
• Bumblebees and other solitary bees
• Large butterflies and beetles, depending on availability

For many beekeepers, the local benefit outweighs the drawback. The number of attacking hornets in the flight area in front of hives visibly decreases when bee-eaters regularly hunt nearby. This eases the strain on weak or already stressed colonies.

The bee-eater may take individual honey bees, but at the same time it curbs the pursuers that put entire colonies under pressure.

Even so, the bird is not a replacement for professional action. If a large Asian hornet nest is directly beside a home, at a school or near an apiary, a trained specialist contractor should be called in. Many regions operate reporting services or online platforms where such sightings are recorded and dealt with in a coordinated way.

Why traps and poison often cause more harm than good

From a human perspective, homemade traps may seem appealing: they are quickly assembled, filled with a sweet attractant, and soon dozens of insects are floating in the container. In reality, however, they mainly capture harmless species or even species under strict protection. These are exactly the insects needed to create a stable balance in the garden.

Poisons create an additional problem because many active substances are non-selective. They also harm caterpillars, solitary bees, beetle larvae and aquatic organisms when washed away. Once diversity disappears, resilient problem species that are even resistant to the treatments eventually dominate.

By contrast, the bee-eater operates like a precisely targeted seasonal “task force”: it hunts only what it can catch, does not damage plants or soil organisms, and automatically adapts its activity to the available insect supply.

Background: invasive species and natural opponents

The Asian hornet demonstrates how severely an ecosystem can be destabilised when a new species arrives without its original enemies. In its native range, specialised parasites, birds and other predators keep it under control. Europe lacks many of these opposing species.

The bee-eater closes this gap only in part, as it hunts opportunistically and only during summer. Nevertheless, its role shows how valuable intact food webs are. The more diverse the insect and bird species living in an area, the less likely it is that one single species will dominate the entire system.

Practical tips for a bird-friendly, hornet-safe garden

Anyone seeking a garden that is rich in insects but still pleasant to use can achieve a great deal with a few steps:

• Create flowering areas with native plants used by solitary bees and hoverflies.
• Avoid closely mown “carpet lawns”; instead, allow parts of the lawn to grow longer.
• Deliberately retain old branches, deadwood and individual dead trees as structural features.
• Provide water sources that are shallow and clearly visible.
• Remove poisons and indiscriminate killing traps from the garden.

This creates an environment in which not only bee-eaters but also other insect hunters, such as swallows, bats and various wasp species, can play their part. Together, they can reduce everyday pressure from the Asian hornet to a manageable level.

So, when the deep buzz of a hornet is heard on the terrace again in summer, it is worth looking upwards. The most important helper may already be perched on the nearest branch, simply waiting for its opportunity to strike – with no bill to pay, no poison and an impressive aerial display included.