Study finds no wild bees left in England/Wales

[domino]

Here is a really interesting article about a study undertaken by the University of Leeds it found:

• They were unable to find any wild honey bee colonies
• Feral colonies escaped from managed hives with high varroa eventually died
• feral colonies which escaped with low varroa survived longer

It seems to add weight to the argument that treating varroa is the best way to ensure strong colonies:

"This study is important because it shows bee keepers that they are ultimately responsible for honey bees", Dr Thompson told BBC Nature. "If they stopped looking after their bees it is likely there would be no bees left.

"It is beekeepers' responsibility to maintain healthy and good quality bees which means continue with a programme of research into honey bee health, honey bee genetics and the health of the landscape in which we keep them."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/28290890

 

[Elaine]

I disagree with your conclusion that "treating varroa is the best way to ensure strong colonies" The quote says that it is our "responsibility to maintain healthy and good quailty bees" - it is not necessary to treat for varroa to maintain healthy good quaility bees.

(Don tin hat and run )

 

[Tdf]

Maintaining low varroa levels is probably the wording you should have used so as not to upset all the people who don't treat

 

[REDWOOD]

They should have asked me, I know of two wild/whatever colonies

 

[domino]

Maintaining low varroa levels is probably the wording you should have used so as not to upset all the people who don't treat

Maybe .....

 

[Dishmop]

If you find a colony of bees living in a tree........how do you define if they are feral or wild, or a swarm from a local apiary and how long they have been there.. Has the place where the bees were found ever been beeless and then repopulated by a swarm. Is it possible that the swarm came from the colony that had previously vacated the premises several months ago.

If you dont find any bees living in trees, means that you didnt find any... Not that there arent any.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

There was one on the Beeb last week.

 

[madasafish]

There was one on the Beeb last week.

Looked like Buckfasts iirc..

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Looked like Buckfasts iirc..

I bever know with these discussions whether we're talking about wild colonies of whatever source/strain or "aboriginal" AMM.

 

[Finman]

.
Look from google BBC Nature. It explains better how study was done.

It as genetically researched too if there are feral mellifera mellifera in nature. Wild colonies and nursed bees had quite same genes.

Second...Are any wild colonies outside of beekeeping areas.... they were not found.

 

[einsteinagogo]

It's interesting because I used to quote this..."no wild or feral bees left in the countryside"

until I was recently shown, four colonies, which have been at these locations for a number of years, not managed or treated for varroa and still going.

One of the colonies, which exists at my place of work, has swarmed twice (prime and cast), and checking both swarms, no varroa was detected after checking drop rate over 7 days, but treated with OA, just in case.

One colony has died out over the winter, and a new colony has taken up home in another location, so it will be interesting to see if these survive this winter.

 

[domino]

It's interesting because I used to quote this..."no wild or feral bees left in the countryside"

She's not saying there aren't feral bees, she's saying there are no wild bees based on a genetic study.

Be interesting to see if there are any studies looking at the long term viability of untreated bees?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

This has been discussed on another thread - as for the areas she searched for wild honey bees:

'She identified three remote areas at least 6.2 miles (10 km) from any known apiaries (Tywi Forest in Wales, Ennerdale Forest, Cumbria and the Kielder Forest in Northumberland) and sampled them using bee traps, lures and observations. No wild honey bees were found'
Don't know about Ennerdale but I know the Tywi forest and I should think Kielder is much the same - there is B*gger all in the Tywi forest to sustain bees, it's the last place you'd go to look for any kind of bee, they should have gone there to film the Mordor scenes for Lord of the rings not New Zealand, in fact the only humanoid creature living there are very inbred runtish orcs so they could have saved a fortune in latex!

As redwood - I could have shown her a few places to find 'wild' bees.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Don't know about Ennerdale but I know the Tywi forest and I should think Kielder is much the same - there is B*gger all in the Tywi forest to sustain bees, it's the last place you'd go to look for any kind of bee, they should have gone there to film the Mordor scenes for Lord of the rings not New Zealand, in fact the only humanoid creature living there are very inbred runtish orcs so they could have saved a fortune in latex!

As redwood - I could have shown her a few places to find 'wild' bees.

The last time I was at Kielder it was a desert of conifers, with very little else. It's the biggest FC site in the country, growing spruce, I think. Not a chance of bees living there for any length of time, nothing to eat.