Scottish Beekeepers' Association Supporting Scotland's Bees and Beekeepers |
The National Bee Unit has confirmed a sighting of the Asian hornet in the Tetbury area of Gloucestershire – the first time the hornet has been discovered in the UK.
The Asian hornet is smaller than our native hornet and poses no greater risk to human health than a bee. However, they do pose a risk to honey bees.
Work to identify, destroy and remove any nests is already underway, which includes:
Useful identification aids can be found by clicking image above or here
SBA Bee Health Officer Gavin Ramsay says there is no immediate threat to honey bees in Scotland but the confirmation of this pest in the UK is a serious cause for concern.
At this stage we are uncertain how far north this pest will thrive.
An outbreak of American Foulbrood (AFB), a disease affecting colonies of honeybees, has been found in two apiaries in South Aberdeenshire.
The disease was confirmed on Monday, June 13 following laboratory diagnosis by Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA).
The AFB infected hives have been destroyed as there is no permitted treatment for the disease in the UK. There are no risks to public health from AFB and no implications for the quality and safety of honey.
The affected apiaries are located near St Cyrus, South Aberdeenshire and the movement of bees and related equipment into or out of the affected area is prohibited.
Bee farmers and beekeepers are being urged to be vigilant for signs of the disease, to maintain good husbandry practices and to notify any suspicion of disease to Bees_Mailbox@gov.scot. Classic signs of the disease are sunken cappings on cells, which when uncapped reveal dead larvae in various stages of decomposition. The larvae have a caramel like, light to dark brown consistency and when drawn out, the decomposing material strings out rather than snapping off – the roppiness test.
In order to assist Scottish Government Bee Inspectors to control this and other diseases, beekeepers are urged to register on BeeBase, the national bee database. This will give them access to up-to-date information on the control of AFB and bee related issues.
Beekeepers in the area of this outbreak who are not on BeeBase are requested to register at https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/register.cfm or send their contact details to Bees_Mailbox@gov.scot.
Further information can be found HERE
The period after the main spring honey flow is an excellent time to check the health of the brood in your colonies, assuming that you have mated and laying queens. European foulbrood is most easily spotted in June and if the infection is relatively light you may be able to save the colony under the direction of the bee inspectors. EFB in particular can be mimicked when young workers fail to feed larvae properly (heavy pressure from Varroa, chalkbrood or in a drone laying colony). American foulbrood requires destruction of the colony but as its spread from colony to colony is relatively slow you may be able to save other colonies in the apiary.
Read all about performing brood disease inspections and details of the foulbrood diseases: DOWNLOAD HERE
In Scotland any suspicions of foulbrood disease must be reported to the inspectorate.
Gavin Ramsay
Bee Health Officer
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