Hive losses being investigated

Survey under way as concerns grow over Decline in bee colonies

By Joe Watson

Published:

A survey is being undertaken to find out the actual level of bee losses in Scotland as worries grow about the decline in stocks in the UK.

The Scottish Beekeepers Association is behind the research which is asking all of its 1,000-plus members to indicate the numbers of hives that have been lost over the winter.

It comes as farming ministry Defra and the Scottish Government’s rural directorate both admit colony losses running at higher-than-normal levels.

Government scientists blame bad weather during last summer and this year’s cold spring. They say that has left bees confined to hives and unable to forage, leaving them short of food and increasingly susceptible to disease such as nosema and other viruses.

SBA vice-president Alan Teale said: “There is a lot of anecdotal and circumstantial evidence that losses are much higher than would have been expected. We’re hearing this from all over Scotland, but particularly from the north.”

Mr Teale said the poor weather appeared to be a significant issue. New queen bees had also failed to mate. “This is a serious situation,” he added.

Each of the association’s members have on average four to five hives each. Many have already been affected by varroa, the blood-sucking mite that kills young brood.

Mr Teale said: “If we did not have people keeping bees then they would probably have disappeared because the wild bee population cannot survive with varroa.”

Mr Teale criticised the relaxation of movement controls to prevent the spread of the mite, saying that the only remaining clear area in Britain to the north and west of the Great Glen was under threat. He called for increased funding for bee research, branding the £200,000 given by the UK Government as “pitiful”.

Mr Teale said from a personal perspective bee imports in the UK should be banned and that more should be done to protect the Scottish bee population where there are still relicts of the original black honey bee.

“We need more money spent in Scotland and we should certainly be bringing back proper bee inspections. We only have four bee inspectors in Scotland and they essentially are office bound.”

The Scottish Government said there was no obvious reason for the losses and that samples submitted to the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency had not shown any evidence of varroa.

A spokesman said it would continue to monitor the situation.

Defra said its bee inspectors would be giving a higher priority to reports of significant colony loss.