C Hooper wrote:

> One in Three UK Beehives Wiped Out
>
> Honeybee Population Collapses in UK as One in Three Hives Wiped Out in a
> Year
> By Arthur Martin, The Daily Mail (UK), 8/13/2008
> http://apitherapy.blogspot.com/2008/08/one-in-three-uk-beehives-wiped-out.html

Whilst this is true to some extent, there has been considerable hype about 
the cause, with some claiming that CCD has arrived in the UK.

In fact, the situation is worse than the 30% quoted, because many colonies 
collapsed before winter arrived; I would put the annual figure at around 
50%.

As to the reason for these massive losses, varroa certainly played a major 
role - but UK beekeepers did not suddenly forget how to treat for varroa! 
No, the weather was the real culprit.

May, June and July last year were abysmal with a combination of cold winds 
and rain throughout, culminating in the severe floods in July.  Queens were 
unable to fly to mate - and if they had flown then they would have found 
that all the drones were safely tucked up indoors!  So colonies that swarmed 
were unable to mate new queens.  Our queen rearing programme was a complete 
disaster - great queen cells, great virgins, but very few mated queens.

So many colonies went into winter in poor condition - small and with 
suspect queens.  Those that survived came out of winter worse - many with 
just two or three frames of brood.  A good spring would have helped, but 
instead we had a cold NE winds throughout May when the oilseed rape was in 
flower; this major source yielded virtually nothing and the colonies failed 
to recover.

Since May we have had a few breaks, so queens have mated better than last 
year and the colonies  have gathered some honey - but the crop is well down 
because of the winter losses and the poor condition of survivors.  In 
addition, we have had to split colonies to fill all those empty boxes - and 
this has reduced the meagre crop even further.

Some of us are hoping for something from the heather, but so far the August 
weather has been appalling; it seems that the UK now has a summer monsoon 
season.
Best wishes

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

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