Basketball-sized Asian hornet nest in Essex back garden taken for government lab tests

Insects are known to be predator for honeybees, reports Lamiat Sabin

Asian hornet next the size of an ‘elongated basketball’ found in a back garden in Rayleigh, Essex (Defra)

A basketball-sized Asian hornet nest has been removed from a back garden in Essex for tests.

After a week-long search, government inspectors found the nest six metres up a tree in the town of Rayleigh.

The inspectors, from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), then took the nest to a lab for examination.