Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Tarland beekeepers get stuck in to national Save Our Bees campaign by nurturing wild swarm

A wild swarm of honey bees that have since been hived by members of the Tarland bee group. Picture by Colin Devine
A wild swarm of honey bees that have since been hived by members of the Tarland bee group. Picture by Colin Devine

Aberdeenshire beekeepers are helping to save the Scottish honey bee by taking part in a new national study.

The Tarland Bee Group was alerted to a wild swarm of natives found near Aboyne last October and members were “amazed” to find that it had managed to build combs and survive the colder weather outside.

Now the apiarists are nurturing the wild creatures and are preparing to send samples off to the Scottish Native Honey Bee Society (SNHBS) in the hope they will be rearing queens.

Scotland’s own native honeybees are under threat from disease and other species imported from abroad.

The Scottish Native Honey Bee Society (SNHBS) has this month launched a new project which aims to take a significant step towards identifying the type of flying insects across the country.

Native bees could then be used for breeding to help ensure their survival.

Yvonne Davidson from the Tarland Bee Group said she had been sceptical at first when she had received a call from retired beekeeper David Jenkins about a wild swarm near his house in Aboyne.

“I couldn’t believe it when we found them,” said Mrs Davidson. “They had been surviving in the wind and rain.

“It was amazing to see. Usually they would find somewhere inside to build combs, but they had built seven on the branch of a tree.”

The Scotland-wide survey invites beekeepers to submit photographs of their stocks which resemble our dark native species.

After being identified by experts, those showing the closest conformance will be put forward for DNA analysis.

The SNHBS comprises volunteers from across the hobby and commercial bee-keeping community in Scotland keen to help promote the conservation and study of the native honey bee.

A spokesman said: “Scottish native honey bees are a brown bee with a reputation for frugality which helps them withstand even the dreichest of Scottish weather.

“But, like the Scottish Wildcat, it has been getting increasingly difficult to find good pure examples and if we don’t take action to reverse their decline we may see them disappear forever.

“Ironically some of the problems facing the Scottish bee, come from the resurgence of bee-keeping hobbyists, as many of the bees available to them are derived from imported stocks of non-native bees and when these cross with our native strain it begins to dilute the authenticity of the true Scottish strain.

“Pests new to the country, such as the devastating Varroa mite which arrived in 1992, are likely to have made it into this country in imported stocks. In the last 20 years Varroa has almost completely eradicated wild honey bees in

Scotland and has significantly reduced native bee numbers.”

Information on how to enter the survey can be found: www.snhbs.scot