As might be expected, beekeepers are clearly obsessed with trying to 
understand the impact of modern pesticides on honeybees, but we should also 
remember there are other insects out there - many of which are beneficial.

Today there was a report on the television about the precarious state of 
some of our best loved butterflies; the reason for their decline was given 
as the appalling summer weather for the past two years and loss of habitat - 
but nothing about pesticides!

Today I was out working colonies next to a field of OSR (canola).  They 
looked really good.  But in the back of my mind was the thought that the 
seeds of this crop have been dressed with Chinook, which contains 
Imadacloprid, and I am wondering how these colonies will look when it has 
finished flowering.

I also have to decide whether to risk moving more colonies into the area. 
At first sight this is an attractive option - in the past we have had large 
crops from OSR but now there is not much being grown in this area - and the 
surrounding fields are planted with spring beans (Vicia faba), a source of 
really good honey.  Against that I have to balance the risk from the OSR 
seed dressing.  Damaged colonies will not get much from either crop.  A 
farmer friend who grows OSR lost 80% of his colonies last winter...
Best wishes

Peter Edwards
beekeepers at stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

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