Natural England

[drstitson]

if we could convince the supermarkets to stock British seasonal fruit and the public to stop buying imported stuff (either in or out of season) we might have the start of a resurgence of the british top fruit industry and a role for our bees.

 

[psafloyd]

if we could convince the supermarkets to stock British seasonal fruit and the public to stop buying imported stuff (either in or out of season) we might have the start of a resurgence of the british top fruit industry and a role for our bees.

If you don't think there is enough British stuff in your supermarket, then complain. How many people do this? Not as many as will tell you it is an outrage (present company excepted).

At the height of the apple season, how many different types of UK apple do you think we had in my local Sainsbury's? One weekend, there were NONE.

 

[Poly Hive]

We are suffering in the UK from Supermarket blight. Unfortunately there is as yet no spray to mitigate the effects.

PH

 

[BBG]

There was no need to repeat all of your post because I wasnt quoting it.
I was requesting that if you felt the need to quote something I had written to please quote all it. If you want to refer to a particular part of something you may find copy/past and wrap in quotes better than quoting the complete post and chopping bits out by selective editing...

Were you asking a question?

Well done! Nearly there!

Now that you are getting to grips and starting to understand, I will continue as normal when referring to posts or part thereof.

END

Regards

 

[Dishmop]

Seems to me as if you are the one who has now understood by using the quote option without editing it.

Well done! Nearly there!

Yeh well looks as if you'll never arrive then.

How about talking about bees instead of trying to prove something...

oh... doesnt appear you have any...

 

[Stiffy]

I think that there needs to be some distinction between areas of the world where honey bees are very important pollinators in deed, esp financially, ie Almonds in the States, and here in the UK where from memory the following are important.

Apples. Sadly diminished though the orchards are.

In Scotland a benefit was found on strawberries in the field.

OSR, a possible 10-15% increase in yield.

And that is really about it. So how important are honey bees to the UK in terms of pollination?

Not much really ....

PH

I think the strawberries being grown in the UK are mostly in pollytunnels and I believe they introduce bumbles to pollinate?

OSR, I approached a farmer last year to put hives next to his crop of OSR and he told me it wasn’t worth the bother and if they weren’t there he could spray as and when he chose.


As I posted I have had doubts about the claims regarding honeybee pollination values for a while, wish someone would prove me wrong?

All a bit depressing really!

Cheers
S

 

[Dishmop]

So how important are honey bees to the UK in terms of pollination?

We still luv em tho dont we...

 

[Poly Hive]

Indeed Stiffy most strawberries are grown in poly tunnels however you make note I mentioned field strawberries? I said nothing at all about poly tunnels.

Grown in Morayshire for Baxters, it was found they did benefit from hives.

PH

 

[RoofTops]

It is not what we beekeepers want to hear and we need to whisper it but there is not a single commercially significant crop in the UK which requires honey bees for pollination. The nearest which comes to it are top fruit like apples which do benefit and a number of orchard owners pay beekeepers for pollination but a lot don't and they still get a crop as we fortunately still have a reasonable population of wild bees of various species which do the pollination. (Unlike Californian almond orchards where they have killed everything off through spraying.)

The position is not much different elsewhere in the World - many of the things which keep people alive - e.g. cerials, rice, potatoes and for grazing animals, grass, don't really need bees of any sort. Some do, like beans, but many of the important foodstuffs don't.

But as said above - don't tell anyone.

 

[Stiffy]

Indeed Stiffy most strawberries are grown in poly tunnels however you make note I mentioned field strawberries? I said nothing at all about poly tunnels.

Grown in Morayshire for Baxters, it was found they did benefit from hives.

PH

No I was just pointing out (I beleive)that most strawberries are grown in tunnels and they use bumbles not honey bees.

Cheers
S

 

[mbc]

raspberries benefit from bees as do countless hedgerow fruit and nuts, how much poorer would our countryside be in terms of colour, fruitfulness and general biodiversity ( how many of our wild creatures rely on bee pollinated harvest? ) without bee pollination, and honey bees are the most important early pollinators by far as they come through the winter in their tens of thousands unlike all the others which hibernate as individuals and take some time to increase in numbers.
Also sustainable grassland management involves clovers fixing nitrogen and these need pollinating to be successful
Big up the humble honey bee !

 

[keithgrimes]

The other point that has been missed (now that we have strayed so far from my original post) is that honey bees are 'flower constant', therefore much more efficient as pollinators than indiscriminate bumle bees. Someone (I don't know who, or how) has estimated that the velue of honey bee pollination to the UK farming industry is £250 million a year, and that a hive of bees on a field of OSR adds about £80 an acre to the crop. Don't challenge the numbers as they were given to me last year on a beekeeping course. The only provenance I have was that it was a 30 year bee keeper who told me.

 

[johnandyrob]

The osr numbers are really interesting do you have numbers for other crops such as field bean ?

Regards Andrew

 

[Poly Hive]

I can back up the OSR numbers as the Farm Manager at Craibstone told Bernard that he experienced an increase of some 15% when bees were on the OSR fields. This was the North of Scotland College of Agriculture's estate.

How that would equate to £'s I do not know. However it is a useful figure to mention and has served me well...LOL

PH

 

[BBG]

raspberries benefit from bees as do countless hedgerow fruit and nuts, how much poorer would our countryside be in terms of colour, fruitfulness and general biodiversity ( how many of our wild creatures rely on bee pollinated harvest? ) without bee pollination, and honey bees are the most important early pollinators by far as they come through the winter in their tens of thousands unlike all the others which hibernate as individuals and take some time to increase in numbers.
Also sustainable grassland management involves clovers fixing nitrogen and these need pollinating to be successful
Big up the humble honey bee !

"raspberries benefit from bees ..... "

Having taken over an allotment which had a fair old patch of raspberries, I would have to disagree that it was the honeybees doing the job.

We went there every other day and the flowers on the raspberries were overwhelmingly visited by everything but honeybees (1 spotted over two day visits) during our one, two or three hours attendance. This, despite another allotment holder having a nuc in a hive only fifty yards away.

Whispers have it that OSR is happily wind polinated and farmers are doing the beekeeper a favour letting them get near it.

"as do countless hedgerow fruit and nuts, how much poorer would our countryside be in terms of colour, fruitfulness and general biodiversity ( how many of our wild creatures rely on bee pollinated harvest? ) without bee pollination, and honey bees are the most important early pollinators by far as they come through the winter in their tens of thousands unlike all the others which hibernate as individuals and take some time to increase in numbers.
Also sustainable grassland management involves clovers fixing nitrogen and these need pollinating to be successful
Big up the humble honey bee !"

Hmmm. Bumblebees reach where others can't and are after pollen rather than honey. We also supply habitat and quarters for bumblebees, et al due to their huge contribution and more efficient pollination.

Read and see what you think, make some habitat in any event

http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk/bumblebees_in_crisis.htm

 

[oliver90owner]

johnandyrob,

It is generally accepted that OSR is about 90% wind pollinated.

Regards, RAB

 

[Hivemaker.]

Honey bee's and bumbles do rather well on the raspberrys.....lots of them around here growing wild all over the place.....miles of them. I believe i read in Manleys book that they used to be,(if not still) an important crop in Scotland,which the beekeepers would move the hives to especially for the honey yield....and obviously pollination.