For several years I have said that the biggest problem that bees face in the 
UK is the weather.  When the BBKA were campaigning for huge sums of money to 
be found to conduct research into the 'huge', 'unsustainable' winter losses, 
we were asked to supply speakers to many Women's Institutes so that they 
could decide whether to support the campaign.  I spoke to a number, but had 
to present an honest assessment of the situation - and warned them that it 
might not be what they were expecting to hear.

Yes, there were some heavy losses - but there have always been losses and 
with some quite dramatic swings in numbers.
No, that did not herald the demise of the honey bee - beekeepers were more 
than capable of making up the numbers each year, so the loss (much to their 
surprise) was not cumulative.
Yes, it seemed sensible to conclude bees would be better off without some 
pesticides.
It was clear that a good autumn with plenty of fresh pollen would, along 
with timely varroa control, ensure a healthy population going into winter 
and  subsequent low winter losses.  Conversely, a poor autumn could have 
disastrous results.

Now it seems that this is being confirmed by our National Bee Unit - UK bees 
are doing quite well:
http://www.channel4.com/news/bee-decline-not-caused-by-pesticides

On the pesticides we had this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/study-reveals-how-bees-reject-toxic-pesticides-2262451.html

But at the same time:
New information has come out about how LOW DOSE  neonicotoinoids effect 
insect grooming behaviour, which then results in death of the insect.  Bayer 
actually advertises this in their own product literature for their biggest 
selling neonicotinoid, imidacloprid (of course, all neonics are systemic and 
affect the nervous system of the insect).  Here is the leaflet:
http://www.agrofog.com/pdf/leaflet19.pdf

Does anyone else have a headache?

Best wishes

Peter
52.194546N, -1.673618W 

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