H
Honey
b
bee winter
i t llosses iin E
England,
l d 2007
2007-10.
10
Norman L. Carreck1,2 and David Aston3.
1Department
of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 9QG, UK.
Email: [email protected]
2International Bee Research Association
Association, 16
16, North Road
Road, Cardiff
Cardiff, CF10 3DY
3DY, UK
UK.
3British Beekeepers Association, The National Beekeeping Centre, National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG, UK.
1. Background
In recent years, there has been much concern about extensive losses
of honey bee colonies worldwide, including the problem of “Colony
Collapse Disorder” in the USA. These losses are often thought to be
unexplained, but consensus is growing that pests and diseases,
together with environmental factors, are responsible (Neumann &
) Manyy countries, including
g
Carreck, 2010; Ratnieks & Carreck, 2010).
the UK, lacked hard data on what constituted “normal” colony losses,
particularly those which occur during winter. This made it difficult to
assess whether “abnormal” losses were occurring.
2. The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA)
The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), an educational charity set up in
1874, represents approximately 20,000 mainly amateur beekeepers, mostly
in England. It promotes: the importance of bees in the environment; support
for beekeepers through education necessary to maintain healthy bee
colonies; and awareness of the craft of beekeeping. It has carried out various
surveys off its
it members
b
over many years (Williams
(Willi
ett al.,
l 1993,
1993 Carreck
C
k ett
al., 1997) but began its current winter loss surveys in 2008 in order to
quantify colony losses.
3. Materials and methods
The survey questions (Fig. 1) intended to allow the calculation of
winter losses included some standard questions developed by
Working Group 1 “monitoring and diagnosis” of the international
COLOSS network,
network but also covered treatments used against the
parasitic mite Varroa destructor. 2,500 Registered BBKA Members
(roughly 12.5 %) were selected at random from the Members’
database and were direct mailed a copy of the questionnaire and
requested to complete it and send it free of charge to the National
Beekeeping Centre.
4. Results
Of the estimated 30,000 beekeepers in England, who manage
approximately 230,000
230 000 colonies (Wilkins et al.,
al 2009),
2009) on average,
average
results were obtained from 3.1 % of beekeepers, managing 2.1 % of
colonies (Table 1). The median number of colonies managed was 2,
and the average number of colonies was 3.5. 52.1 % of the
respondents had fewer than 2 colonies, and 92 % had less than 10.
The % winter colony loss data have been grouped by region
corresponding to those used by the UK Food and Environment
Research Agency for their inspection service (Table 2).
5. Discussion
Losses in 2007-8 were uniformly high (Aston, 2010). There was
considerable regional variation, and losses were generally higher in
the north of the country, but it is difficult to draw reliable conclusions.
The survey data do not allow firm conclusions about causes of losses
to be drawn, but we feel that most are almost certainly caused by
inadequate control of the parasitic mite V. destructor. Mite resistance
to the most commonly used chemicals has left beekeepers with few
effective alternatives. Many beekeepers continue to use synthetic
pyrethroids despite the problem of mite resistance, so a further round
of testing of mites for pyrethroid resistance in England is currently
underway Losses reported in 2010-11
underway.
2010 11 showed an overall
improvement, but remain unacceptably high. The winter of 2010-11
was exceptionally cold and dry, conditions which should generally
favour good overwintering, so these losses could be the result of bees
going into winter in an inadequate nutritional state. This emphasises
the importance of providing adequate forage for bees, as well as
addressing pest and disease problems.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2.
2007-8
2008-9
2009-10
2010-11
No. of
responses
593
1150
1026
899
No. colonies
4611
6567
4848
3697
Table 1.
Region
2007-8
2008-9
2009-10
2010-11
Mean
Northern
37.0
32.1
24.4
16.6
27.5
Western
40.0
14.2
18.7
9.9
20.7
North-east
43.0
18.9
16.9
17.1
24.0
Eastern
30 0
30.0
12 8
12.8
17 2
17.2
14 1
14.1
18 5
18.5
South West
33.0
15.6
12.8
16.8
19.6
Southern
28.0
28.0
23.6
15.3
23.7
South East
26.0
18.7
17.9
14.0
19.2
Overall
30.5
18.7
17.7
13.6
21.9
Table 2. % colony losses.
References.
Aston, D. (2010) Honey bee winter loss survey for England. Journal of Apicultural Research 49, 111-2. doi: 10.3896/IBRA.1.49.1.21
Carreck, N.L., Williams, I.H., Little, D.J. (1997) The movement of honey bee colonies for crop pollination and honey production by beekeepers in Great Britain. Bee World 78, 67-77.
Neumann, P., Carreck, N.L. (2010) Honey bee colony losses. Journal of Apicultural Research 49, 1-6. doi: 10.3896/IBRA.1.49.1.01
Ratnieks, F.W.L., Carreck, N.L. (2010) Clarity on honey bee collapse? Science 327, 152-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1185563
Wilkins, P., Marris, G., Budge, G., Brown, M. (2009) Honey bee colony losses in the United Kingdom. In Proceedings of 4th COLOSS Conference, Zagreb, Croatia, 3-4 March 2009. 43-4.
Williams, I.H., Carreck, N.L., Little, D.J. (1993) Nectar sources for honey bees in the U.K. and the movement of honey bee colonies to them for crop pollination and honey production. Bee World 74, 160-175.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks go to all of the beekeepers who completed survey forms, and to Margaret Anderson (BBKA headquarters) for data handling.