BBC News 24 Aug 09;
Almost a fifth of the UK's honeybees died last winter, the British Beekeepers' Association has said.
Combined with an average 30% loss the year before, it means beekeepers are struggling to keep colonies going.
Honeybees are worth £200m a year to UK agriculture because of their work pollinating crops.
Bees are suffering from viruses, a parasitic mite and changes in the weather. Experts are calling for more money to be put into research.
A survey by the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) suggested an average of 19.2% of colonies died over winter, which is "double" the acceptable level.
The highest losses were recorded in the north of England, where 32.1% perished, and the lowest in eastern England, where 12.8% did not survive.
The survey showed an improvement on the previous year, which the BBKA put down to the period of really cold weather in the winter which encouraged the bees to "cluster" together, helping them to survive.
It also said the good weather in early spring enabled them to forage for nectar and pollen.
'Onslaught of threats'
But there was still a "worrying and continuing high level of colony loss", said the BBKA's president Tim Lovett.
"It underlines the need for research into the causes and remedies for disease in order to ensure that our principal economic pollinator, the honeybee, can survive the onslaught of the threats it currently faces," he said.
"These ongoing losses in the pollination army of honeybees cannot continue if we are to secure food supplies."
Nearly all the UK's 250 species of bee are in decline. In the last two years, honeybee numbers have fallen by 10-15%.
The conservation watchdog Natural England recently called on people living in urban areas to consider keeping bees.
Its chief scientist Tom Tew told the BBC: "We want urban people to engage with wildlife and get joy and pleasure from it. The more hives you have the more resilient the whole population is to the outbreak of disease."
'Really distressing'
The BBC presenter Martha Kearney is an amateur beekeeper and has seen for herself the decline in numbers.
She told Breakfast on BBC One: "They've died out on me before and it was really distressing.
"You put the bees away for the winter and you hope they're going to be OK.
"And when you open up the colony in the spring and see lots of dead bees in there, it's unpleasant.
"Beekeeping is a fascinating hobby and I love it. But they are dying. This year is slightly better than last year though."
A report by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee last month warned the government was giving "little priority" to the health of the nation's bees despite their importance to the agricultural economy.
Experts say sustaining bee populations is essential to ensuring the survival of Britain's plants and crops.
Beekeepers lose one fifth of hives
The Telegraph 24 Aug 09;
Beekeepers in Britain lost a fifth of their hives to disease this winter, according to new research which sheds light on the scale of the global collapse in the bee population.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 7:01AM BST 24 Aug 2009
In the winter of 2007/08 beekeepers lost a third of hives due to a combination of bad weather and disease.
This year losses are slightly better but still double the natural rate of seven to ten per cent.
Tim Lovett, President of the British Beekeepers Association, said it was a “worrying level of loss.”
“It underlines the need for research into the causes and remedies for disease in order to ensure that our principal economic pollinator, the honey bee, can survive the onslaught of the threats it currently faces.," he said. "Also, it still shows that there is a worrying and continuing high level of colony loss which we have to attribute to disease and for which we currently have few answers in terms of husbandry or medication.”
Bees are key to a third of all food we eat by pollinating fruits, grains and vegetables but hives have been dying worldwide.
The possible reasons behind the mysterious death of whole hives known as “colony collapse disorder”, are explored in a new film The Vanishing of the Bees explores
The documentary talks to beekeepers around the world who claim that a system of farming where thousands of acres of one type of food are grown, known as “monoculture”, has contributed to the decline of honeybees as the insects cannot get enough variety of plants all year round. This means new bees are brought in every season to ensure the plants are pollinated, spreading disease. For example bees are being transported regularly from Australia to America to pollinate crops. Beekeepers also claim that pesticides that were judged to be safe are affecting bees over time and causing the insects to die.
Film maker George Langworthy hoped the film will raise awareness so that Governments invest more money in research, outlaw harmful pesticides and ensure farms grow "bee-friendly" crops.
“The honeybee is under threat," he said. "Millions are dying and no one knows why. The honeybee pollinates a third of all food we eat and without it our diet would be very different. This film explores the collapse of the Earth’s key pollinator through the eyes of those whose livelihoods depend on them and tries to unravel nature’s biggest whodunit.”
Fifth of UK honeybee colonies died last winter, says beekeeper association
Figure is improvement on previous year, but mortality levels still double acceptable level, warns British Beekeepers Association
guardian.co.uk 24 Aug 09;
Nearly a fifth of the UK's honeybee colonies died last winter, figures from the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) revealed today.
The figure is an improvement on the previous year when almost a third of hives did not make it through the winter, but is double "acceptable" levels, the BBKA's president Tim Lovett warned.
Across the country an average of 19.2% of colonies died over winter, with the highest losses in the north of England, where 32.1% perished, and the lowest in the east of England, where just 12.8% did not survive.
According to the BBKA, the period of really cold weather in the winter encouraged the bees to "cluster" together, helping them to survive, while good weather in early spring enabled them to forage for nectar and pollen.
The association also believes beekeepers took more care to feed colonies where necessary to prevent them starving.
But there was still a "worrying and continuing high level of colony loss" which the BBKA put down to diseases threatening the bees.
Lovett said: "The improved figure is very welcome, compared with the 30.5% for winter 2007-2008, but is way short of the 7% to 10% which until the last five years has been considered acceptable.
"It underlines the need for research into the causes and remedies for disease in order to ensure that our principal economic pollinator, the honey bee, can survive the onslaught of the threats it currently faces.
"Also, it still shows that there is a worrying and continuing high level of colony loss which we have to attribute to disease and for which we currently have few answers in terms of husbandry or medication.
He said similar levels of losses in other areas of farming would be considered "disastrous" with dramatic effects on food prices, and answers through research were urgently needed.
"These ongoing losses in the pollination army of honey bees cannot continue if we are to secure food supplies," he warned.
Bees are estimated to be worth around £200m to the UK economy each year, as they pollinate many of the food crops grown here, such as apples and oilseed rape.
But in recent years they have been hit by agricultural changes which have reduced the availability of the wildflowers that are so important in providing food for the insects.
Diseases such as the varroa mite have infected hives, killing the bees, while climate change and pesticide use have also been suggested as possible factors in the insects' decline
A report by the parliamentary accounts committee last month warned the government was giving "little priority" to the health of the nation's bees despite their importance to the agricultural economy.
Honeybee colonies are disappearing at an "alarming" rate and ministers have until recently taken little interest in the problem, the report claimed.
The cross-party public accounts committee wants the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ring-fence research spending on bee health and not allow it to be diluted by looking at other pollinating insects — a call backed by Lovett today.
