> I do not buy the winter BS. Never did. A properly
> prepare
Hi Bob

> I do not buy the winter BS. Never did. A properly
> prepared hive can take the most severe winter in
> either place.

I don't think that anyone is blaming the winter weather for our winter losses in the UK, but three poor (ie wet) summers in a row is part of the story.  Wet summers means poorly mated queens, and colonies with too few young bees in the autumn and insufficient stores for the winter (which are not always supplemented by the beekeeper).  Add to that failing Varroa control and the viruses spread by it, and maybe more acarine and Nosema in stressed bees, and you have a large part of the problem.

Yes, there are fingers being pointed at pesticides, but the evidence for harm to the bees is just not there.  Imidacloprid will reach bees mostly via oilseed rape (canola) which provides much of the forage for the nation's bees in late spring.  They seem to thrive on it just as they always did, building up to large colonies and making a surplus.  The winter losses happen perhaps 7-8 months later.  So it is hard to make the leap to conclude that neonicotinoids are to blame for our losses, but anti-pesticide groups in the UK are happy to do so and, in my opinion, are just using beekeepers for their own ends. 

I still think that the safety margin between exposure and apparently harmful levels is low, but as far as honeybees go the signs are that the problems lie in other directions. 

all the best

Gavin

             ***********************************************
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