Malta Hornet Project

Find the nests. Save the bees.

Reported nests

Impact

Download data

Every report in the cloud, including destroyed nests and hive damage: date, season, area, GPS, status, nest type, activity, hives lost, what they were eating, weather at the spot, and days until destroyed. CSV opens in Excel. GeoJSON opens in Google Earth or any mapping tool.

Stay safe

Never touch a nest yourself

  • Oriental hornets defend their nest hard and sting repeatedly. Keep at least 5 metres away.
  • Take the photo from a distance. Zoom in, don't walk in.
  • Most Maltese nests are underground or inside wall cavities, rubble walls, and roof spaces. Look for a steady stream of hornets going in and out of one hole.
  • Don't try to destroy it yourself unless you know what you're doing. Report it, and beekeepers or pest controllers take it from there in the Destroy section.

If you get stung

  • Move away from the area calmly. Hornets chase.
  • Cold compress, keep the area raised.
  • Call 112 right away if you have trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, dizziness, or you've had many stings.

Best time to spot a nest

Early morning or late afternoon, when traffic in and out of the entrance is easy to see. Follow the flight line of hornets leaving your apiary. They fly fairly straight back to the nest.

Destroying a nest

⚠️ Take precautions. Ideally, let a professional do it.

Hornet nests are dangerous. Stings can cause severe allergic reactions and can kill. A licensed pest controller is by far the safest option. If you're an experienced beekeeper doing it yourself, wear full protective gear, never go alone, never go if you're allergic, and follow the product label exactly. You act at your own risk. Read the disclaimer.

1
Confirm it's an oriental hornet nest

Watch from at least 5 m away. You want a steady stream of big reddish-brown hornets with yellow bands going in and out of one hole. Check the ID photos in the Report section if unsure.

2
Go after dark, on a dry, calm evening

At night the foragers are back inside and much less active. Rain washes treatment out and wind blows it back at you. See tonight's forecast above.

3
Gear up, never alone

Full bee suit, gloves taped at the wrists, boots. Use a torch with a red filter, since hornets react less to red light. Bring a second person who stays well back. Nobody allergic to stings goes near it.

4
Treat the entrance with an insecticide dust

Puff an authorised wasp/hornet powder straight into the entrance hole, following the label. Hornets walking in and out carry the powder deep into the nest. Sprays work poorly on underground and wall nests.

5
Leave the entrance open

Don't plug it straight away. Returning hornets need to pass through the powder.

6
Check again in 1–2 days

Look from a distance in daylight. Still busy? Treat again at night. Once there's been no traffic for 3+ days, fill the hole with soil or stones.

7
Mark it destroyed in the app

Open the nest on the Targets map and tap Mark destroyed, so nobody wastes a trip.

Never

  • Petrol, diesel or fire. Fire risk, it poisons the soil, and it often doesn't even reach the comb.
  • Digging it up or flooding it with water. You'll be swarmed.
  • Using insecticide near hives, flowering plants bees visit, water sources, pets or where kids play.

Protect the apiary meanwhile

  • Fit entrance guards or hornet exclusion cages. In one Egyptian trial, cages with ~4.2 mm holes worked best.
  • Reduce hive entrances and keep colonies strong. Weak colonies get hit first.
  • Many beekeepers swat hornets hovering at the hive front with an electric racket.
  • Follow hornets leaving the apiary. They fly fairly straight home, which leads you to the nest.

Before you go near a nest

Disclaimer. The information in Malta Hornet Project is general guidance only. It is provided free and "as is", with no guarantee that it is accurate, complete or suitable for your situation. Nest reports come from members of the public and may be wrong. You use this app and act on its information entirely at your own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Malta Hornet Project and its creators accept no liability for any injury, illness, death, damage or loss arising from the use or misuse of this app or its information. This includes approaching, treating or removing nests, using insecticides, and travelling to reported locations.

🔔 Want a heads-up?

We can send you a notification if the destroying team needs to reach you about this report. Nothing else, no spam.

📞 The destroying team wants to call you

Usually to ask permission to enter, or for directions to the nest.

Privacy

What we collect when you report a nest: its location, the photo(s), the details you pick, your notes, the area name, and the weather at that spot. If the nest is on private property you also give a phone number.

Who sees what: nest reports and photos are public on the map and in the downloadable data, so everyone can help. Phone numbers are never public. Only verified nest-removal crews and the app admin can see them, and only to ask permission to enter the property.

How long we keep it: phone numbers are deleted automatically once a nest is marked destroyed. Nest reports are kept to track the hornet problem over time.

Notifications (optional): if you turn them on, we store your browser's notification address so we can alert you. Verified crews who turn on nest alerts also store their alert area (localities, or a point and radius) and, if they choose email alerts, their email address. Crew emails are never shown to anyone and every alert email has an unsubscribe link. Turn them off any time.

Behind the scenes: your phone gets a random anonymous ID, used for the daily report limit and the 15-minute undo. Your internet address is scrambled and only used to count daily limits. No ads, no tracking, nothing sold.

Your rights: you can ask for your data, including your phone number, to be corrected or deleted at any time. Use the details in the Contact section.

Contact & support

Report a hornet nest