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Scottish Beekeepers' Association Supporting Scotland's Bees and Beekeepers |
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Dear interested friend of bees,
As many of you know, I have been using a group of volunteers for a number of years to monitor various sites in which feral colonies of honey-bees are continuing to live despite the spread of Varroa throughout most of Scotland.
Sadly one of these sites has now been lost. The tree in which the bees were living near the River Nairn had become unstable, and it was judged to be a public danger and felled. Those who had been monitoring the site were quickly alerted to the situation, and within a few hours of the tree coming down, they went there to rescue the bees.
A year or two ago, I was sent a small sample of bees from this colony to do some wing morphometry on, and from the characteristics of the venation pattern on their wings, it appears likely that they are largely of the Carniolan race. These have a reputation for mild temper, and the behaviour of the bees while they were being rescued would certainly confirm that for this stock.
Those carrying out the rescue have made a most interesting video of their proceedings, and I hope you will enjoy watching it.
Ann Chilcott, who was the leader of the rescue team, has said that she would like this to be widely circulated among interested beekeepers, so feel free to share it with you beekeeping friends. It has many useful lessons for others who may be faced at some time with a similar problem.
Magnus Peterson
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SBA – Dundee University Research Collaboration: Overwinter Survey: April 2016We wish to continue the annual surveys of overwinter losses that we began in 2012 and report back to the membership when all the data for 2015-16 is analysed. In addition, an overall analysis will be performed on data produced over all 5 years (eg. geographical location, forage availability and reported Varroa load) and general regional variations and emerging trends (if any) over this period. This survey will be supplemented by a honey yield survey at the end of the season and we wish as much data from the same apiaries as possible. Your help will be greatly appreciated as the more returns that we have the more reliable the data will be. Previous analysis by professional geographers at Dundee, using data from years 1-3, indicated that by mapping Scottish colony losses by actual geographical distribution indicated a correlation of colony losses with two stressors. The first was increased rainfall (from the average for each area) and secondly, intensive land use. We will deliver the full 5 years data to the geographers to provide a more complete assessment of these stressors of honeybees in Scotland. In addition, given the ban on the three major neonicotinoids (for use on bee visited crops) in December 2013, we will be able to compare colony overwintering loss rates before (3 years; 2011-2014) and after (2 years; 2014-2016) their restriction. Has there been any benefit to Scottish honeybees, or have their use been replaced by more toxic alternatives? If you have failed colonies, please freeze a sample of 30 bees and indicate this on the form provided. If you have a healthy colony at the same apiary, please also freeze 30 bees from one of these colonies (to serve as a control). Once we know how many samples are available, we will collect them to screen for the presence of Nosema ceranae. It is not yet clear if this new parasite is a threat to honeybees in Scotland. All data will be held in strictest confidence and no personal details released. Any use of data will not bear identification unless with your permission. We may wish to follow up some data so contact details are requested. Full postal code information is important for accurate geographical analysis of final data. Download your survey form using either of the links below: |
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In June 2010, the Scottish Government, together with representatives from the Scottish Beekeepers Association and the Bee Farmer Association launched their 10-year Honey Bee Health Strategy.
The overall aim of the Strategy is to achieve a sustainable and healthy population of honey bees for pollination and honey production in Scotland through strengthened partnership working between stakeholders with an interest in honey bees.
It will provide a plan of action over a decade and will define the need for Government involvement and provide direction for the future. The Scottish Government and stakeholders with interests in honey bees are responsible for implementation of the Honey Bee Health Strategy.
The Strategy has four main outcomes which provide the focus for future action and development on:
- Education, Training and Knowledge Transfer
- Communication
- Surveillance, Diagnosis and Biosecurity
- Research and Development
A feasibility study into options for restocking honey bee colonies in Scotland is a feature of the Strategy, which aims to improve the sustainability and health of honey bee stocks in Scotland. The findings from the study have now been published and can be accessed here Review into Options for Restocking Honey Bee Colonies in Scotland.
The main Strategy Group have identified two Sub-Groups who will take forward issues which are raised.
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The COLOSS CSI Pollen Project 2016
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The COLOSS CSI Pollen project has run successfully in Scotland in both 2014 and 2015. We are just starting it again in 2016, and many of our 2015 volunteers are continuing in 2016. A few have had to drop out however, and as a result we do have some spare pollen traps available for new volunteers this year. We are particularly short of volunteers from Angus and Fife. What volunteers need:
Below is an example of the kind of colour sorting that you might do. |
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If you think you might like to participate, then please get in touch as soon as possible with the Scottish National Coordinator, Magnus Peterson, on magnus.peterson@strath.ac.uk and you will be sent full details along with the volunteers' Picture Manual with full instructions.
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