Whenever someone enquires with me about keeping bees, I encourage them to
plant a patch of Borage instead.
They can have all the joy of being surrounded by the contented hum of
hundreds of bees (of many species) and rest secure in the knowledge that
they are probably doing more for pollinators than they would by buying a
hive.
Interestingly, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust has adopted a series of
principles aimed at limiting the negative impacts of honey beekeeping. It
is a good statement, but regrettably it completely omits any mention of how
the bees are kept. A missed opportunity.
Best
Mick
On Thu, 8 Jul 2021, 09:32 Gilliane Sills, <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I remember some recent discussion following the announcement by M & S that
they had established up to 1000 hives of honeybees. They made the
announcement with a fanfare of how good this was for bees - but there was
quite an outcry saying that this wouldn't be good environmental behaviour -
the new bees would use resources that would therefore no longer be
available to other bees and insects. See
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/16/marks-spencer-honeybee-project-threat-biodiversity-conservationists-aoe
Gilliane
On 08/07/2021 08:48, Dorothy Hall wrote:
I can recommend books by David Goulson, co-founder of the Bumblebee
Conservation Trust. I have a Sting in the Tale and The Garden Jungle, if
anyone would like to borrow them. The loss of hay meadows and other changes
in farming practices have had a massive impact on some species of
bumblebee. Creating more forage is the way to go.
Dorothy
On Thu, Jul 8, 2021 at 8:43 AM Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mark, sometimes out-apiaries are more trouble than they're worth, so--
don't leap to using them.
I wanted more hives and our garden couldn't really take any more, so I
put overspill on a nearby allotment. No problem, easy access. Eventually
due to allotment politics I had to move them on, they are now a mile from
home and I only see them rarely. And they are 300 ? yards from where I can
park, down a hill. It's a great spot for bees but a lot of walking back and
forth on hot days when e.g. harvesting honey.
But they have their place. John Haverson in Andover, Hampshire tells of
having 6 hives in his garden which always struggled. He moved 3 elsewhere
and they all boomed. There just wasn't quite enough forage for 6 round his
house.
Paul
On Thu, 8 Jul 2021, 08:32 Oxnatbees, <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
No I didn't circulate anything from Ireland that I can recall.
I've heard this about honeybees too. The problem happens when e.g. a
commercial beekeeper puts dozens of hives in one spot, so doesn't really
come into play for the people in our group. There are 249 species of bee in
the UK, and 27 ? bumblebees, lots of moths and wasps etc, they all need
nectar and pollen. Many are short range flyers so are badly affected by
being isolated in agricultural zones where the crops only bloom for a few
weeks a year - many British cities, with gardens, are now better habitats
than their surrounding countryside: surveys find a greater variety of
insects in the cities. Still small numbers, though.
Oxford has University Parks and the Botanic Gardens, both planted with
exotic trees for a big range of food. Lots of nice gardens. It's not a
concrete desert and when OBKA were still allowed to publish membership
lists, I counted only about 80 members within the ring road. In contrast,
there will be thousands of beekeepers in London and perhaps less green
space per person.
To give an idea of how forage has declined: I think it was a book by
Tickner Edwardes where he said he grew up in the 1920s in a village in one
of the intense agrarian areas of Englnd where 3 beekeepers had 20-40 hives
each. He retired back to the same village in the 1980s and struggled to
keep 3 hives going.
Paul
On Thu, 8 Jul 2021, 08:11 Barbara Elizabeth Robinson, <
liz20swan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Just trying to remember where I read it - Paul did you circulate it?
Liz.
On Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 08:10 Barbara Elizabeth Robinson <
liz20swan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi.
Yes I have read an article about this from the Irish Beekeepers - also
saying much better to promote better planting and therefore better forage
for all pollinators.
Liz Robinson
On Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 07:20 Dawn Gosling <magikmum49@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I dont know if anyone else heard the World Service on BBC this
morning but they were talking to beekeepers in Africa, North America and
London. One of the beekeepers I think it was the chap in London, said
that
there are too many bees and this is killing of our indeginoue bees. We
should be providing natural food for bees but not keeping them in such
number.
Is this now the theory? Or has it been the theory all along?
Dawn
from Gilliane Sills
The Map House
Vernon Avenue
Oxford
OX2 9AU
01865 721644
