Biosecurity is adding AI-enabled cameras to its yellow-legged hornet response in Auckland, saying the technology should sharpen surveillance in the weeks before winter.

The cameras, developed by the University of Exeter’s Vespa AI team, will be tested from next week at live-capture feeding traps on the North Shore. Officials say the units will watch hornet movements and flag hotspots for follow-up, allowing field teams to spend less time stationed at feed sites.

“These cameras mean we can closely monitor activity online, freeing up our field workers for other tasks,” said Mike Inglis, Biosecurity NZ’s commissioner north.

The devices join a broader toolkit that includes radio tracking, ground surveillance, trapping and the use of Vespex bait.

Since the response began in November, Biosecurity says it has found and destroyed 75 queens and 127 nests, supported by 15,610 public reports. Inglis said hornets remain active and the aim is to locate every nest before winter, when only any mated queens that evade detection would survive to hibernate and re-emerge in spring.

Two UK hornet control specialists, Pete Davies and Dan Etheridge, are working with the Auckland team on field craft, radio tracking, nest destruction and training. Davies, formerly with Britain’s Animal and Plant Health Agency and now on his second visit, said he was “hugely impressed with the scale of the New Zealand eradication response” and remained optimistic about eradication.

Residents, particularly on the North Shore, are asked to report suspected hornets or nests and include a precise location. Reports can be made via info@mpi.govt.nz or 0800 008 333.