Dear All,

<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>And we beekeepers think we have problems.
>The letter below should give us a close-up view of what is going on in
>England.

It's worth also mentioning that the current  foot-and-mouth outbreak in
the UK is beginning to have a serious effect on beekeepers.
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is so infectious that there are tight
controls on movements onto agricultural land throughout the UK. Such
restrictions are most severe in areas where foot-and-mouth has been
confirmed, but farmers everywhere are understandably extremely unwilling
to allow any visitors onto their land for fear of introducing FMD
infection.

Very many beekeepers in the UK have their bees on agricultural land, and
due to the intermixed nature of the British Countryside, livestock are
generally not far away. So as Spring approaches, many beekeepers are
finding that it is impossible to get access to their apiaries to give
their bees the attention they need.

The problem at present is that Spring is running about a month late, and
conditions are too cold and wet for bees to forage properly, so
some colonies are beginning to be running out of food and are in need of
feeding. However, once the good weather arrives, colonies are going to
be in
desperate need of supers, and management to control swarming.  It's a
particular problem for large-scale beekeepers who will be wishing to
move colonies on economically important pollination contracts during the
next few weeks.

I have recently spoken to a number of beekeepers who have already
accepted that they are unlikely to be able to able to visit their bees
at all until
the FMD outbreak is controlled. However, current epidemiological
modelling suggests that this will take several months at least. By which
time the honey flow will probably be over.

For Bee Inspectors it's a real problem too because we very soon
need to start visiting apiaries to carry out our disease control and
advisory work. However, we just won't be able to go to some places at
all, and elsewhere will have follow the most stringent disinfection
procedures to avoid any risk of spreading FMD infection. Several Bee
Inspectors have been seconded to help with controlling the outbreak in
the worst affected areas, and more may follow as the outbreak continues.

For those who want further information on the UK foot-and-mouth
outbreak, the MAFF website at
http://www.maff.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/fmd/default.htm is a good place
to start.

James


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___________________________________________________________________________
James Morton

South-Eastern Regional Bee Inspector
Central Science Laboratory
National Bee Unit
Tel/fax: +44 (0)20 8571 6450
Mobile:  07719 924 418
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.csl.gov.uk
___________________________________________________________________________
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