Asian Hornet Nests Revealed by Falling Leaves: What to Do in October–November 2026?

Introduction: the nest that "appears" even though it has been there since June

Every year, from the second half of October onwards, the switchboards of town halls and pest control firms (rodent control, insect control, disinfection) record the same wave of calls: "there's an enormous Asian hornet nest in the lime tree at the bottom of the garden, I had never seen it before". The wording is accurate — and that is precisely where the misunderstanding lies.

The nest did not appear. It had been there since late spring, built up gradually by the colony, but hidden by the foliage. Leaf fall, which in mainland France spreads from mid-October to the end of November depending on the region and the tree species, simply reveals it. By the time you discover it, the Vespa velutina nigrithorax colony is therefore in its terminal phase: it has produced its future queens, it is in decline, and it will die off naturally after the first real frosts.

This difference in timing changes everything. A nest discovered in July, 3 metres above a children's play area, is an emergency. The same nest discovered on 25 October in the crown of an 18-metre poplar justifies, in most cases, no intervention at all. You still need to be able to tell the two situations apart — and to know what, in October and November, nevertheless warrants prompt action.

This article complements our content on wasp and hornet nests in late summer and on stings: it deals specifically with the autumn window, the regulatory status of the Asian hornet in 2026, and the mistakes that send members of the public to A&E every year.

Identifying an Asian hornet nest with certainty

Before making any decision, you need to correctly identify what you are looking at. Three types of construction are regularly confused.

The Asian hornet nest (Vespa velutina)

• Shape: spherical to ovoid, sometimes pear-shaped, ranging from the size of a basketball to that of a large cardboard box (40 to 80 cm in diameter at the end of the season, exceptionally 1 m).
• Material: chewed wood fibres, a "papier-mâché" appearance, beige to ochre, with clearly visible concentric striations.
• Entrance: a side opening, often on the flank or towards the lower part of it — never a wide hole underneath.
• Location: in 70 to 80% of cases high up in a tree (oak, poplar, plane, lime, conifers), but also under a canopy, in a dense hedge, a garden shed, a compost bin or a bank.

The European hornet nest (Vespa crabro)

It is open at the bottom (wide lower opening), browner in colour, and almost always set up in a cavity: a hollow trunk, an attic, a shutter box, a nest box. The European hornet is a useful, non-invasive species that is declining in several regions. Destroying it as a matter of course has no ecological justification: if the nest is away from where people pass, leave it alone.

The common wasp nest (Vespula spp.)

Smaller (often 15 to 30 cm), light grey, with a "scaly" look rather than regular striations, frequently in the ground, under a roof tile or inside a partition wall.

To identify a nest without going near it: a pair of compact 10x42 binoculars lets you make out the striated structure and pinpoint the entrance hole from 20 or 30 metres away, which is more than enough — and far safer than taking one more step towards the tree.

Why October–November changes the nature of the problem

The annual cycle of Vespa velutina in mainland France follows a pattern that is now well documented by the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (which coordinates the Inventaire national du patrimoine naturel and monitoring of the species) and by INRAE.

Two practical consequences follow.

First consequence: a nest discovered in late October can remain dangerous for a few weeks. Aggressiveness peaks in September–October, when the colony is defending its queen larvae. A knock against the trunk, a chainsaw, a hedge trimmer or a leaf blower triggers a collective defensive reaction within a radius of 5 metres around the nest. Autumn garden work is precisely the most accident-prone activity of the season.

Second consequence: after the first hard frosts, the nest is biologically dead. The future queens have left it to overwinter in isolation, under bark, in a woodpile or a crevice. The nest will never be recolonised the following spring. Having it destroyed in December or January means paying for nothing.

Making the right decision in 5 questions

1. How far is it from where people pass?

This is criterion number one. It is generally accepted that a nest located less than 10 metres from an area used daily (terrace, entrance, play area, path, washing line, chicken coop, horse box) justifies an intervention, even in autumn. Beyond 20 metres and high up, doing nothing is the reasonable choice.

2. How high up is it?

A nest more than 10 metres up requires a professional telescopic pole or a cherry picker: this is not an operation a private individual can carry out, under any circumstances. A low nest (hedge, shed, low wall, compost bin, ground level) is conversely more exposed to accidental knocks — and therefore more dangerous despite its apparently small size.

3. Is there an allergic or vulnerable person on site?

Children, elderly people, anyone who has already had a systemic reaction to a hymenopteran sting: the presence of a single at-risk individual tips the decision towards intervention. According to data published by ANSES and relayed by Vidal, hymenopteran stings cause several dozen deaths from anaphylactic shock in France every year, across all species combined (bees, wasps, hornets) — a figure far higher than the one attributable to the venom alone.

4. Is work planned on the tree or the building?

Pruning, felling, roof repairs, rendering, fitting insulation: any vibration close to a still-active nest is a triggering factor. In that case, prior intervention is mandatory, along with written notice to the contractor.

5. Is the nest still active?

Watch through binoculars for 5 minutes, in the middle of the day, at a temperature above 12 °C: steady coming and going indicates a living colony. No movement across several observations spread over time, after a cold spell: the nest is empty.

Who to call, and who pays in 2026?

Regulatory status

The Asian hornet is classified as an invasive alien species of Union concern (EU Regulation 1143/2014 and the ministerial order of 14 February 2018) and, in France, as a category two health hazard for the honey bee since the order of 26 December 2012. The law of 22 April 2025 on combating Asian hornets and protecting bees established a national framework: a national control plan, departmental coordinators, and the possibility of public funding for nest destruction. Its implementation nevertheless remains very uneven from one department to another.

The practical upshot: before calling a company, call your town hall and check the website of your departmental council or your regional FREDON (regional federation for protection against harmful organisms). Several departments cover all or part of the cost upon declaration, sometimes via a dedicated reporting platform.

Prices observed

Since in the vast majority of departments the fire service now only responds to situations involving imminent danger on public land or a person in distress, calling 18 about a nest in a private garden generally leads nowhere. In a block of flats, a nest located in a common area (tree in the shared garden, façade, roof) falls to the managing agent and is covered by service charges; in a rented property, destroying a nest in the outdoor areas of the let dwelling is in principle the landlord's responsibility, under the obligation to provide decent accommodation. We set out these allocations of responsibility in detail in our article on pests in blocks of flats and rented housing.

Choosing the right contractor

Insist on:

• up-to-date professional liability insurance;
• the Certibiocide certificate (mandatory for the professional purchase and use of biocides);
• a written quote stating the height, the method, and whether or not the nest will be removed;
• a clear statement of the product used and the waiting period before re-entering the area.

A reputable professional will refuse to work after nightfall without suitable equipment, and will tell you frankly if your October nest 15 metres up does not warrant an invoice. You can also use our services page to frame your request.

What you must never do

The following list corresponds to accidents actually recorded every autumn by the emergency services.

• Shooting at a nest with a gun. Still a widespread practice in rural areas, prohibited in built-up zones, and one that produces a swarm of several hundred furious hornets without destroying the colony.
• Burning the nest. A major fire risk — and the hornets escape from below.
• Using an over-the-counter insecticide spray on a mature colony's nest: the 4 to 6 m range is insufficient, the product does not reach the core of the nest and triggers an attack. "Long-range wasp nest" aerosols only make sense on small primary nests in spring.
• Climbing a ladder. An attack 4 metres up means a fall.
• Throwing water or hurling objects. Same logic.
• Blocking the entrance. The hornets will cut a new exit, sometimes into the inside of the building.

On the other hand, if you simply need to work in a garden where a nest has been spotted at a respectable distance, a ventilated beekeeping jacket and good lighting to check nooks and crannies genuinely reduce the risk. And for autumn outings in high-risk areas, keeping a venom extractor and an antihistamine prescribed by your doctor in the family first-aid kit remains a sensible habit — bearing in mind that it is never a substitute for calling the emergency number in the event of a systemic reaction (facial swelling, difficulty breathing, feeling faint).

After the frost: autumn's useful window

Once the colony is dead, autumn and winter open the only genuinely productive phase of long-term control.

Removing accessible nests — for clarity, not for the species

An empty nest is never reoccupied. Removing it therefore has no public-health value. It does, however, have a practical benefit: avoiding you and your neighbours reporting it again as an "active nest" the following spring, and preventing knocks from bringing it down onto a walkway. A low, clearly inactive nest can be taken down after the frosts, in broad daylight, wearing sting-resistant gardening gloves and goggles, then bagged up and taken to the tip.

Reporting, every time

Reporting feeds the national mapping effort and local control plans. Several channels coexist depending on the region: departmental platforms, FREDON, and the INPN reporting app (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle). A nest reported in October, even at the end of its cycle, documents an area of pressure for the following season.

Preparing selective spring trapping

This is the key point. Mass trapping in autumn is both ineffective and harmful: it captures large numbers of non-target insects (wasps, flies, butterflies) for no effect at all on the species' dynamics. By contrast, targeted trapping of founder queens from late February to early May, within a radius of 100 to 300 metres around a nest destroyed the previous year, is recommended by several FREDON bodies and by ITSAP-Institut de l'abeille, provided that selective traps are used (holes calibrated to 5.5–6 mm, a flight chamber allowing small insects to escape) along with a sweet, alcoholic bait (dark beer, blackcurrant syrup, white wine) that repels bees.

Pinpointing the exact location of nests in your area now means knowing where to place three to five selective hornet traps next March. It is also the time to reread an insect identification guide so as not to confuse a Vespa velutina founder queen, a common wasp queen and a European hornet — the most frequent mistake made in spring.

Protecting hives

For amateur beekeepers, autumn is the season of losses caused by predation pressure. The recognised measures: reducing entrance sizes, anti-hornet muzzles on hive floors, electric harps for heavily attacked apiaries, and strengthening weak colonies. The national control programme and the apiary health protection groups (GDSA) publish technical fact sheets updated every season.

In summary

The best response to a nest revealed by falling leaves is often the most frustrating one: observation from a distance, reporting, and preparing for spring. For personal protection and prevention products, our shop brings together the essentials; for an on-site assessment and a costed quote, go through our services.

Sources: Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014; order of 26 December 2012 (category two health hazard); order of 14 February 2018; law of 22 April 2025 on combating Asian hornets; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle / INPN; INRAE; ANSES; ITSAP-Institut de l'abeille; FREDON France; Vidal.