The tip of the iceberg ?

[For want of a better word]

I'm guessing your banter is tongue in cheek, but do any of you have references for the claims that the 1. Romans brought bees here, 2. they came on their own wings (which I think is assumed...) and that 3. the Roman bees all died?

Sorry to split hairs, like I said I'm guessing it's just a bit of banter...

From Wikkipeedia

There is a widespread idea in Great Britain that the nettle was introduced by the Romans[23]. The idea is mentioned by William Camden in his book Britannia 1586[24]. However, in 2011, an early Bronze age burial cist on Whitehorse Hill[25][26], Dartmoor, Devon was excavated. The cist dated from between 1730 and 1600BCE. It contained various high value beads as well as fragments of a sash made from nettle fibre. It is possible that the sash was traded from mainland Europe, but also that it was locally made.

School is out on that one!

Nadelik Lowen

 

[Popparand]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that it was the Romans that brought honeybees here?

Pytheas (325 bc) reported that mead was being made in Cornwall, long before the Romans got here. Also the Romans used the native nettles they found here to stiing themselves to keep out the cold (allegedly).

 

[Popparand]

I got an email from our local Wildlfe Trust. They don't approve of honeybees because they deprive other pollinators of nectar etc. What are these other pollinators? wasps?

 

[Finman]

From Wikkipeedia

There is a widespread idea in Great Britain that the nettle was introduced by the Romans[23].

Nadelik Lowen

If you look distribution map of Urtica dioeca on northern hemisphere, it hardly was spread by Romans.
.

 

[Finman]

. What are these other pollinators? wasps?

Better to forget it....

.

 

[philipm]

First thing the Urban farmers from the towns do when they move from England to the cheaper properties in Wales is buy a pony which eats their fields down to nothing just leaving docks or nettles ,or if they don't want the land let it out to sheep farmers for tack.The problem being when they realise how much hard work a small holding is they cannot afford to return to England.It always sounds so nice when you see it on programs like escape to the country but things are different in real life.

 

[Poly Hive]

Interesting about the nettles as the poison garden at Alnwick has them attributed to the romans and I also discovered this year that the dear invaders also brought ground elder with them as they "liked the peppery taste" Bless them not!

So the wildlife trust don't realise that bees are native? Sorry but the word idiots comes to mind.

PH

 

[Beefriendly]

Long Long before the Romans.......

3000BC, Runnymede, Thames. Archaeological dig found pottery shards showing traces of beeswax and glucose. 1st evidence for man using bees in UK. (Eva Crane).

 

[For want of a better word]

If you look distribution map of Urtica dioeca on northern hemisphere, it hardly was spread by Romans.
.

Wikki belief again!!!!

We have to blame someone

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The suggestion that managed hives are kept out of areas where native pollinators are struggling doesn't seem that controversial to me.

and where are they struggling - due to the presence of honey bees? Definitely not in the area concerned for one thing.

 

[Beefriendly]

I'm guessing your banter is tongue in cheek, but do any of you ( Cheers , Beefriendly , Amari , etc.) have references for the claims that the 1. Romans brought bees here, 2. they came on their own wings (which I think is assumed...) and that 3. the Roman bees all died?

See post 28 for my reference to bees in UK 3000BC.
Regarding Roman Bees, who knows. Never heard of the Romans bringing bees to UK so doubt any such references exist.

 

[Finman]

Wikki belief again!!!!

We have to blame someone

I believe Gypsy father more than you


.

 

[For want of a better word]

I believe Gypsy father more than you


.

Of course..... he has crystal balls!

Nadelik Lowen

 

[user 819]

I got an email from our local Wildlfe Trust. They don't approve of honeybees because they deprive other pollinators of nectar etc. What are these other pollinators? wasps?

C,mon Popparand, surely your not that blinkered that you can't think of pollinators .

Wasps with many sub species.
There are hundreds & thousands of other important pollinators; bumbles, solitary bees, flies of all sorts, butterflies & moths, beetles & bugs.


Before these do-gooder's start blaming Apis mellifera for stealing all the forage, they need to realise that vast swathes of habitat & forage have been lost. Also pesticide use esp by the general public who are eager to kill anything that flies or crawls over there gardens to protect their manicured unfriendly gardens

 

[For want of a better word]

See post 28 for my reference to bees in UK 3000BC.
Regarding Roman Bees, who knows. Never heard of the Romans bringing bees to UK so doubt any such references exist.

Rough translation .... a curse upon these native black honey bees.. however Prodnoxious they are survivors. The bees Cloxious sent from Pompay all died
Alas poor Thymallus cried for a week.......




Chons da

 

[Gilberdyke John]

View attachment 16276

Rough translation .... a curse upon these native black honey bees.. however Prodnoxious they are survivors. The bees Cloxious sent from Pompay all died
Alas poor Thymallus cried for a week.......




Chons da

I thought it translated to "Kilroy was here"

 

[Millet]

I thought it translated to "Kilroy was here"

Did you mean Jeremy Kyle...

 

[Pete D]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that it was the Romans that brought honeybees here?

What have the Romans ever done for us ?

 

[Finman]

What have the Romans ever done for us ?

They brought European Union to Britain.

 

[Pete D]

Blessed are the cheese makers................