>And after this hard winter probably things will get worse ... Perhaps not: we had a very good summer, numbers of colonies were increased to recover most of last winter's losses and, importantly, colonies went into winter in far better condition than last year. Most beekeepers in the UK that I know are actually quite optimistic - but the spring and summer are some way off yet! Best wishes Peter 52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html