The Asian Hornet duo used sugar baits and detective work to track down the first 'secondary' nest of the year.

A homeowner in Torteval spotted what they thought was an Asian Hornet in netting protecting a fruit tree and called in Francis Russell and Damien Harris, who work for the States to control the insects.

They set up bait stations and tracked the flight paths of hornets feeding from them.

This led them to a large sycamore tree off the main Pleinmont Hill, and high up in the branches was a large secondary nest.

They're called this because they're where the Queen Hornet establishes a colony, and can be home to as many as 5,000 Asian Hornet workers.

It's suspected the Queen Hornet flew across from France in the spring.

A local tree surgeon provided a crane and the nest was destroyed. It is the first secondary nest to be discovered here this year.

Francis Russell, project coordinator for the Asian Hornet Strategy Team, says it's important that anyone who spots an Asian Hornet contacts them and doesn't kill it, because that way it can lead them to the nest:

"This nest was surprisingly difficult to find even though we had as many as eight hornets coming and going from our bait stations. It’s great that we have found the nest so early in the year before it got quite large with greater numbers of worker hornets heading out each day to feast on our native pollinators like bees.

There may well be more nests across the island which we will be very keen to track down so as always, we are encouraging everyone to keep sending in photos and report anything suspicious to us."

Suspected sightings should be reported (with a photograph if possible) to [email protected] or by telephoning 01481 220356 or 07839 197082.