ADAPT talk on bees

Last Wednesday, local bee keeper Chris Knibbs spoke at the monthly ADAPT meeting.

Chris has kindly sent AudlemOnline the bullet points from his talk which, we are sure, many will find of interest.

And if ever they taste the honey from Chris' bees, they will be even more interested.

Chris said: "A few facts from my recent ADAPT presentation "Bees & Beekeeping":

• In the UK there are 24 species of Bumble bee, 230 species of solitary bee,1 species of honey bee, which has 4 sub species.
• The honey bees are important. 1 colony can pollinate 300 million flowers a day
• Between 1985 and 2005 there has been a 53% decline in honeybees due to varroa mite diseases and pesticides. In the UK there are now no Wild Honey Bee colonies left.
• There are an estimated 10000 Feral Bee Colonies which are bees that have escaped from man-made beehives, but their survival can be poor.
• There is a total of 274000 colonies with only 44000 with Commercial Keepers
• That means 84% are with small scale beekeepers.
• More can be done to sustain our honey bee population by the use of fewer pesticides , encouraging organic farming practices, wider field margins, planting bee friendly flowers, shrubs and trees and recruiting more beekeepers.

The second photo was taken yesterday of bees bringing in the first significant crop of pollen this year."

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