Urban Apiculture Dissertation

[mmdrake]

Hi there,

I am a third year student at Exeter University, and for my postgrad dissertation I am examining the rise of urban apiculture in London. How our relationship to honeybees has changed in recent years, and the public awareness of urban apiculture.

Would any London beekeepers be interested in having a phone interview about their experiences of keeping honeybees in London?

Thank you so much!

 

[Eyeman]

Wish you luck with your postgrad work.
What is your opinion on todays news:
Urban beekeeping is harming wild bees, says Cambridge University

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-harming-wild-bees-says-cambridge-university/

 

[Finman]

.
Urban beekeeping has been always, but the term has invented few years ago.

I bet the London has had its beehives always.

Couple of beekeepers situate their hives in odd places and then they are in TV and in newspapers . Strange hobby to put their hives into the most dirty places of the country.

Such hype thing.
.

 

[Fritillary]

Wish you luck with your postgrad work.
What is your opinion on todays news:
Urban beekeeping is harming wild bees, says Cambridge University

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-harming-wild-bees-says-cambridge-university/

Sigh.....

"The experts say there needs to be greater controls of managed honeybee hives."

 

[Poly Hive]

Pretty much a nonsense.

Given there are considerably fewer colonies than 30 years ago how does this stack up? https://www.sustainweb.org/foodfacts/bee_industry/

It don't.

Which so called experts?

PH

 

[pargyle]

Wish you luck with your postgrad work.
What is your opinion on todays news:
Urban beekeeping is harming wild bees, says Cambridge University

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...-harming-wild-bees-says-cambridge-university/

Sorry it's off topic and this probably deserves a thread of its own .. if this is the best that Cambridge University Zoology department can come up with then I just wonder where they got the money for this research and the rubbish conclusion they came to ... and if Sarah Knapton, Science editor of the Telegraph has got any sort of qualifications apart from a CSE in media studies I will be astounded.

What rubbish .....

Shame on you Dr Gelmann - you should learn about Honeybees and Beekeepers before condemning them:

https://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/jonas-geldmann

 

[Fritillary]

We trust that Exeter University will do better!! - to come back to topic?

 

[B+.]

We trust that Exeter University will do better!! - to come back to topic?

I think that probably depends on what he means by recent....and what he means by London. The boundaries of what would be considered as London have changed considerably over the centuries, as has the hive type used. Undoubtedly the nectar sources have changed too.

 

[Finman]

Pretty much a nonsense.

Given there are considerably fewer colonies than 30 years ago how does this stack up? https://www.sustainweb.org/foodfacts/bee_industry/


PH

Hive counters do not notice that modern beehive has 3 times more bees that 100 years ago.

However Britain has too much hives anyway.
.

 

[Popparand]

Cockney bees

But honey yields are down 50/75% compared to 50 years ago.

I am always slightly bemused by all this urban (London) honey stuff. I appreciate that public sector and plc bodies like to flog their green credentials and encourage keepers to manage hives on the top of their buildings, but how really practical is that? How long does it take to get fed up with lugging stuff up and down umpteen floors to look after colonies. Also the latest wheeze of trying to get the rich to sponsor hives in their back gardens (where you couldn't swing a cat) seems a bit of a pipe dream. Even bankers have more brains than that.

Look at the accounts of these commercial urban keepers and they are all going bust anyway.

And what about the poor bees? OK, up on the roof tops the air might be reasonably clean, but down at street level the air quality is abysmal and that's where they have to go to forage. In fact levels of contamination are in some cases 10 times over legal limits. So there go the poor old bees, coughing and spluttering with their trachea progressively clogged with diesel particulates, etc. Nice.

Not to mention the honey. With the atmosphere polluted with every type of airborne hydrocarbon sh*te known to man, not only passing through the bees but coating every tree and blossom, how can the bees possibly purify nectar before converting it into honey.

So I'll stick with my hives in Suffolk, clean air, natural forage and decent pubs where you don't need to take out a mortgage to buy a round. Beekeeping in London is like bird watching in a submarine.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Look at the accounts of these commercial urban keepers and they are all going bust anyway.

No they are not all going bust, that is just fake news from you.

 

[Amari]

Hi there,

I am a third year student at Exeter University, and for my postgrad dissertation I am examining the rise of urban apiculture in London. How our relationship to honeybees has changed in recent years, and the public awareness of urban apiculture.

Would any London beekeepers be interested in having a phone interview about their experiences of keeping honeybees in London?
Thank you so much!

Oh dear! Many pearls of wisdom from beekeepers stretching from Wales via Scotland to Helsinki. Step forward London!

 

[Finman]

Oh dear! Many pearls of wisdom from beekeepers stretching from Wales via Scotland to Helsinki. Step forward London!

And wisdom from USA, that bees are vanishing.

 

[bontbee]

Pretty much a nonsense.

Given there are considerably fewer colonies than 30 years ago how does this stack up? https://www.sustainweb.org/foodfacts/bee_industry/

It don't.

Which so called experts?

PH

Unfotunately, we also have a lot less forage - for all pollinators - than we had 30 years ago....

 

[DanBee]

Hi there,

I am a third year student at Exeter University, and for my postgrad dissertation I am examining the rise of urban apiculture ... and the public awareness of urban apiculture.

Hi - You may be interested in looking closer to home. There have been 6-9 colonies on top of one of the buildings on the Exeter campus for many years. You could poll students and staff who study & work in that building, but who are not connected with the psychology department, regarding their awareness of their own urban beekeeping

 

[mmdrake]

But honey yields are down 50/75% compared to 50 years ago.

I am always slightly bemused by all this urban (London) honey stuff. I appreciate that public sector and plc bodies like to flog their green credentials and encourage keepers to manage hives on the top of their buildings, but how really practical is that? How long does it take to get fed up with lugging stuff up and down umpteen floors to look after colonies. Also the latest wheeze of trying to get the rich to sponsor hives in their back gardens (where you couldn't swing a cat) seems a bit of a pipe dream. Even bankers have more brains than that.

And what about the poor bees? OK, up on the roof tops the air might be reasonably clean, but down at street level the air quality is abysmal and that's where they have to go to forage. In fact levels of contamination are in some cases 10 times over legal limits. So there go the poor old bees, coughing and spluttering with their trachea progressively clogged with diesel particulates, etc. Nice.

Not to mention the honey. With the atmosphere polluted with every type of airborne hydrocarbon sh*te known to man, not only passing through the bees but coating every tree and blossom, how can the bees possibly purify nectar before converting it into honey.

This is really interesting - do you have any other comments on the impracticalities of urban beekeeping?

 

[Anduril]

Popperand. Lovely sound bites, but could you back it up please. I have seen growth and expansion in London, the honey will be tested by trading standards. Success stories on the TV and in newpapers. I would be interested to see your evidence.

 

[Finman]

Sigh.....

"The experts say there needs to be greater controls of managed honeybee hives."

Over 90% out of British beekeepers are 2 hive owners. What heck controls they need in their hobby? Skilled beekeepers are then tied to hobbyist which do not even extract their honey. Thanks to heaven that EU is not any more mixed in this native soup.

I bet that Lego builders need more control that they do not do what ever.
.

 

[Eyeman]

But honey yields are down 50/75% compared to 50 years ago.

I am always slightly bemused by all this urban (London) honey stuff. I appreciate that public sector and plc bodies like to flog their green credentials and encourage keepers to manage hives on the top of their buildings, but how really practical is that? How long does it take to get fed up with lugging stuff up and down umpteen floors to look after colonies. Also the latest wheeze of trying to get the rich to sponsor hives in their back gardens (where you couldn't swing a cat) seems a bit of a pipe dream. Even bankers have more brains than that.

And what about the poor bees? OK, up on the roof tops the air might be reasonably clean, but down at street level the air quality is abysmal and that's where they have to go to forage. In fact levels of contamination are in some cases 10 times over legal limits. So there go the poor old bees, coughing and spluttering with their trachea progressively clogged with diesel particulates, etc. Nice.

Not to mention the honey. With the atmosphere polluted with every type of airborne hydrocarbon sh*te known to man, not only passing through the bees but coating every tree and blossom, how can the bees possibly purify nectar before converting it into honey.

This is really interesting - do you have any other comments on the impracticalities of urban beekeeping?

Original post:

Hi there,

I am a third year student at Exeter University, and for my postgrad dissertation I am examining the rise of urban apiculture in London. How our relationship to honeybees has changed in recent years, and the public awareness of urban apiculture.

Would any London beekeepers be interested in having a phone interview about their experiences of keeping honeybees in London?

Thank you so much!

So nice to have an open mind when carrying out research!!!!

 

[Finman]

Unfotunately, we also have a lot less forage - for all pollinators - than we had 30 years ago....

How do you know that?