Hi Chris and All


> ....  hence the incentive to move Mellifera in to Cerana areas.

Yes, just last Tuesday I was chatting to beekeeping researchers in Tamil Nadu in southern India (you're going to allow me this little bit of showing off, aren't you, moderators?!) who were telling me that A. mellifera (Italians) was tried in their area and were productive but just couldn't withstand the pressure of pests and diseases from A. cerana and so the local beekeepers have reverted to A. cerana.  The A. cerana boxes were like mating nucs with supers on and, following the example of my hosts, I turned down the offer of a veil and went native, as they say, for the first time.  They were as calm as anything in the late afternoon gloom.

Just a couple of hundred metres away was a tree with a couple of dozen A. dorsata nests, single combs in the open, hanging from branches.  The researchers were trying to persuade honey harvesters to slice out a sideways V-shaped portion of the honey above the brood but leave the main part of the comb hanging to allow the colony to recover.  There had been a spate of desertions of this migratory species in this tree lately, suspected to be prompted by the predation of the 15 or so bee-eaters harassing them.  I wonder if A. dorsata has pests of its own that might yet or perhaps already have jumped species?

> I am told that the honey is indistinguishable outside a laboratory 

The different honeys from different bee species (including stingless bees, also on show) and different areas in India have distinct medicinal properties and are highly valued for them.  I was offered A. dorsata honey to taste in the Indian way (pour onto palm of hand and lick up with the tip of the tongue) and I have to say that it had a delicious chestnut-like base but with aromatic overtones.  Very nice.

all the best

Gavin

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