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Received this today and thought it might be of interest and maybe worth discussing?
Published Date: 24 January 2010
By Jenny Fyall
THEY outnumber human inhabitants by 30,000 to one but are still in dire need of protection. Yet a four-year campaign to save the black honeybee of Colonsay from alien invasion has hit a bureaucratic brick wall.
Beekeeper Andrew Abrahams, who runs hives containing three million of the insects on the Hebridean island (human population about 100) wants the government to make Colonsay Scotland's first legally enshrined bee "reserve". He hopes this will ensure that rival beekeepers do not introduce other, more common, species to the island.
However, the government refuses to act, saying that the black bee - Apis mellifera mellifera - is a "domesticated species" and so does not qualify for reserve status under current wildlife legislation.
Without protection, Abrahams fears the future of the native bees, which have lived in Scotland since the last Ice Age and now exist in isolated pockets, is at risk due to the threat of cross-breeding with other species as well as disease.
Abrahams has looked after black bees on Colonsay for 30 years and has about 60 hives, each with some 50,000 insects.
Speaking for the first time about his plans to turn Colonsay into a reserve, he said: "They are a genetic resource and that is why they need to be protected. These bees are good in hard weather. They have adapted to their environment here in Scotland. So they are very hardy and they don't mind the rain. I would compare them to Highland cattle. You can shove them out in the winter and they look after themselves pretty well. The black bee is hardy and thrifty."
A dramatic slump in numbers of honeybees on the mainland has forced fruit growers to seek replacements from countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Slovakia. But foreign bees can carry diseases that could wipe out the already vulnerable native variety.
However, government advisers say there are no laws available that can be used to protect the black bees should foreign insects be introduced to Colonsay.
Abrahams said: "It's very, very frustrating. Even though ministers are saying they want to do something, they pass it down the line and there's nobody on the ground who is picking it up."
Black bee reserves have been created in France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Norway - usually on islands or in isolated mountain areas.
The Scottish Government says that the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981, previously used to create reserves for red deer on the islands of Rum, Jura and Arran, could not be used because the black bee is considered a domesticated creature.
Professor Alan Teale, president of the Scottish Beekeepers' Association, said: "Some of its (the bee's] characteristics are very useful, particularly its adaptability to local climatic conditions, and that's why it should be conserved.
"This business about there not being legislation to do it is a nonsense. You can always make legislation."
Published Date: 24 January 2010
By Jenny Fyall
THEY outnumber human inhabitants by 30,000 to one but are still in dire need of protection. Yet a four-year campaign to save the black honeybee of Colonsay from alien invasion has hit a bureaucratic brick wall.
Beekeeper Andrew Abrahams, who runs hives containing three million of the insects on the Hebridean island (human population about 100) wants the government to make Colonsay Scotland's first legally enshrined bee "reserve". He hopes this will ensure that rival beekeepers do not introduce other, more common, species to the island.
However, the government refuses to act, saying that the black bee - Apis mellifera mellifera - is a "domesticated species" and so does not qualify for reserve status under current wildlife legislation.
Without protection, Abrahams fears the future of the native bees, which have lived in Scotland since the last Ice Age and now exist in isolated pockets, is at risk due to the threat of cross-breeding with other species as well as disease.
Abrahams has looked after black bees on Colonsay for 30 years and has about 60 hives, each with some 50,000 insects.
Speaking for the first time about his plans to turn Colonsay into a reserve, he said: "They are a genetic resource and that is why they need to be protected. These bees are good in hard weather. They have adapted to their environment here in Scotland. So they are very hardy and they don't mind the rain. I would compare them to Highland cattle. You can shove them out in the winter and they look after themselves pretty well. The black bee is hardy and thrifty."
A dramatic slump in numbers of honeybees on the mainland has forced fruit growers to seek replacements from countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Slovakia. But foreign bees can carry diseases that could wipe out the already vulnerable native variety.
However, government advisers say there are no laws available that can be used to protect the black bees should foreign insects be introduced to Colonsay.
Abrahams said: "It's very, very frustrating. Even though ministers are saying they want to do something, they pass it down the line and there's nobody on the ground who is picking it up."
Black bee reserves have been created in France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Norway - usually on islands or in isolated mountain areas.
The Scottish Government says that the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981, previously used to create reserves for red deer on the islands of Rum, Jura and Arran, could not be used because the black bee is considered a domesticated creature.
Professor Alan Teale, president of the Scottish Beekeepers' Association, said: "Some of its (the bee's] characteristics are very useful, particularly its adaptability to local climatic conditions, and that's why it should be conserved.
"This business about there not being legislation to do it is a nonsense. You can always make legislation."