"Survivor bees" found in Blenheim Forest

[Ian123]

Like this...View attachment 29110

That’s no native bee it’s wearing trainers it’s a fast buck. No true Mercian bee would be seen without horse hair trousers socks and sandals. That would be truly native adaptation to humid valleys!

 

[user 819]

It's simple they believe in their own little world and the bees will be what ever label they decide to put on them, the rest of us simply live in the real world and know that with 194 possible colonies in a 10km radius hybridisation will occur. Then again they may have an invisible magnetic field at the boundaries that the bees can't cross, back in the real world I don't think so.

 

[Curly green finger's]

A quick look at your BFA members book should tell you

And if your not on It watch out

 

[Wilco]

It is ancient woodland...
I have wondered, why English countryside has so huge oaks in the middle of fields? I suppose that oaks drop their huge acorn crop and domestic animals get good forage from them. Surely you know better the history of big oaks.

I believe it's something along the lines of when hedging was planted in the old days they used to put an oak every 20 yards. Many of the large oaks in the middle of fields are all that remain since hedgerows were removed to make fields larger and 'more efficient'.

Historically pigs would be grazed/fattened on acorns but I think this might have been in proper woodland rather than along hedgerows.

 

[robinharman]

I believe it's something along the lines of when hedging was planted in the old days they used to put an oak every 20 yards. Many of the large oaks in the middle of fields are all that remain since hedgerows were removed to make fields larger and 'more efficient'.

Historically pigs would be grazed/fattened on acorns but I think this might have been in proper woodland rather than along hedgerows.

Survivor oaks?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I believe it's something along the lines of when hedging was planted in the old days they used to put an oak every 20 yards. Many of the large oaks in the middle of fields are all that remain since hedgerows were removed to make fields larger and 'more efficient'.

People seem to forget that fields in general are a fairly new invention, until the upper classes decided to steal common land from ordinary people and then charge them to use it fields (or hayes -which is where the term for dried grass comes from) were just the occasional are used for specialised purposes, until mass enclosures in the 1700's and 1800s vast tracts of land were just open with the occasional coverts of trees dotted around for the benefit of hunters. Individual land boundaries to indicate a person's crops were just marked by stones or natural features.

 

[Ian123]

Far from being the unmanaged population of bees, it appears from this article I found there’s a fair bit of beekeeper selection going on.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2021/04/03/blenheims-wild-bees-protected-invaders-trap-hives/

 

[Finman]

Far from being the unmanaged population of bees, it appears from this article I found there’s a fair bit of beekeeper selection going on.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environ...eims-wild-bees-protected-invaders-trap-hives/

And no one knew that they existed.
Mystery resolved, how that article, full of miracles, has born.

 

[Finman]

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18939245.blenheim-palace-makes-homes-bees-estate/
Last year in December an article that Blenheim makes hives to palace's bees.

 

[Finman]

This?
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...rs-of-lost-british-honeybee-found-at-blenheim

Entertainment factory.
And here is the term 'ecotype'. Palace park type bees.
Look previous. Palace makes homes to bees.

 

[Ian123]

According to this article from the Blenheim web site. Colony losses in this country are down to CCD. There’s me thinking the NBU have not identified any CCD in the UK!We're Building Bee B&Bs

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They always try to find an excuse for what is essentially neglect of their bee colonies, if it's not CCD it just some made up fact such as that a colony's 'life cycle' only lasts as long as the founder queen .
If it wasn't so pathetic it would be a laughing matter.

 

[Ian123]

Ohh don’t be to harsh they do however have some lovely pics of the rolling NATURAL Capability Brown designed park land and man made lake though. The trees and weed growth on the lake suggest summer, and look not a weed for acres.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

According to this article from the Blenheim web site. Colony losses in this country are down to CCD. There’s me thinking the NBU have not identified any CCD in the UK!We're Building Bee B&Bs

So only 10% of nest-sites are occupied, which means there's plenty of nest capacity. Although making nest-boxes can't be a bad thing.
The CCD thing is a bit daft though.
Nice to see bee hive parts in the background of the photo.

 

[rampino]

According to this article from the Blenheim web site. Colony losses in this country are down to CCD. There’s me thinking the NBU have not identified any CCD in the UK!We're Building Bee B&Bs

I just looked at the article on the Blenheim website. If you look at the photo of the guy making the “natural hives” you can see some normal supers in the top left hand corner. They must have some managed beehives on site, so much for their assertion of the genetic purity of their local bees.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I just looked at the article on the Blenheim website. If you look at the photo of the guy making the “natural hives” you can see some normal supers in the top left hand corner. They must have some managed beehives on site, so much for their assertion of the genetic purity of their local bees.

Aye and they look like theyve been around a bit to.
Maybe they are relics from previous relatives. If so is there know history? Which has come to light, have the paper and beekeeper looked into it also?

Where I work I'm finding out about the history of previous beekeeping history... Well trying to.

 

[Finman]

Whay is CCD

Explanation is simple. I have had those cases enough. And in that natural hive envitonmrnt CCD moves from hive to hive.

When varroa is far enough, all brood will be violated. When brood emerges, new bees live perhaps a week and then they die. After that older summer bees will die for their age, and the hive will be empty

Another hive may notice that varroa hive can not resist any more robbers, and they start robbing. Robber hive may get dedly dosage of mites in couple of weeks even if they were normal before robbing.

Many may think, that what a wonderfull world such natural fairytale forest, but it is far from that.
Robbers can fly long distances and carry mites to their home.

 

[Finman]

So, we have seen that those wild bees have been managed long time in they own way. And the guys know that hives have varroa. Now we know that "ecotype bee" is not varroa resistant.

When one hive die, next spring it gets a new swarm.

 

[user 819]

The Blenheim guys are deluded, the queens aren't F1 inseminated stock nor are they F1 bought in stock so that leaves natural mating process. Any one else claim they can get F1 bred queens in open countryside with multiple colonies within flying range of 1000's of drones without hybridisation ?

 

[Skinfaxi]

But the statement is billhooks - there is managed beekeeping all over the area. What planet are these fools on? do they live in a parallel universe (or is that just asking the obvious?)

No they are posh bees and they dont hang out with those bees over the wall