Chris wrote
> Nevertheless there is evidence that bees become accustomed to and thrive
> better in conditions to which, as a colony, they have been bred. The late
> Professor Len Heath kept bees on the high moorland of Dartmoor (SW UK) and 
> also  on
> lower ground nearer the coast of Plymouth. He reported that bees moved 
> from
> one location another didn't do as well as those that were already there.

Presumably Len was moving colonies up on to the heather from the coast.  As 
there is always some loss of adult bees resulting from a move, I would 
expect that those colonies would not do as well as those that had not been 
moved, especially given the unpredictability of when heather will yield and 
that colonies would have little time to recover from the move, as they are 
usually on the moor for only perhaps 4-6 weeks at the most.

I have been taking bees to the moors for 25 years and, except for one year, 
those colonies have always been the best in the following spring, probably 
because the late nectar flow produces plenty of young bees for the winter 
and the honey stored from the heather is particularly rich in proteins from 
the pollen.   I suspect that if Len was moving colonies from the coast up on 
to the moor for the heather, then those colonies would have benefitted from 
the move and been good for the following spring, regardless of their 
performance on the heather versus the high moorland resident colonies.

Best wishes

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

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