Europe will enforce the world’s first continent-wide ban on widely used insecticides alleged to cause serious harm to bees, after a European commission vote. The two year suspension is a landmark victory for millions of environmental campaigners, backed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), concerned about a dramatic decline in the bee population.
In a month when scientists discovered that humans may be upside down with respect to our jelly ancestors (apparently the evolutionary origin of our head is traceable to a brainless organ usually considered the “foot” of creatures related to jellyfish), also comes another bee syndrome
Moving into February, there are two main themes for this issue of APiSUK; pollination and pesticides. I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at pollination because this is really what bees are all about. Governments and industry aren’t worried about the declining bee populations just because beekeepers aren’t able [...]
Welcome to 2013 from APiSUK. Perhaps this year I will manage to achieve some of my resolutely made resolutions, but probably not. The year opens with the importance of bee research reaching all-time highs as governments the world over become more and more worried about the decline of this – and other important pollinators [...]
The world of bees never fails to amaze me and the news that bees have the odd snake like tendency of biting things and secreting a stunning agent at the same time has truly left me astounded. ‘How stupid not to have known this before’ said Huxley after hearing Darwin’s theory of evolution. I [...]
In one of the latest articles in APiSUK, we read about an assessment of some research concerning the effect of neonicotinoids on bee colonies. If professor Cresswell is correct in his assessment, scientists must really start looking at other possible causes of CCD. There is one thing that I really get upset about [...]
More and more research studies are reporting findings that pesticides of one sort or another are one of the major causes of decline in bees and we reported in the last edition that perhaps worried by this evidence, Bayer would set up a global bee care programme. As part of the program, two dedicated [...]
In a month when we learn that the secret of immortality is locked up in the genes of flat worms and that Bayer is setting up a global bee health initiative, we also hear of more problems for honey bees that will certainly add to their mortality. The small parasitic fly Apocephalus borealis which [...]
2011 has been quite a year as far as bees and beekeeping is concerned with more beekeepers joining the ranks; a move towards more and more urban beekeeping; increased interest in top bar hives; more and more of the public taking an interest in bees and even a parliamentary debate about bee problems led [...]
I’ve just moved house and it was the most hideous move I’ve ever undertaken. I’ve yet to shift the bees, chickens and horses but I thought I’d just recover from my own move with the family and then attend to them. Now settled in and ready to again it is with pleasure that I [...]
It’s always very sad when people you are associated with die and for two to die just recently is very sad indeed – and having said that I didn’t know either of them personally! But Dave Cushman and Ron Brown have both been inspirational figures for me. Dave’s website was such a first rate [...]
Well the world didn’t end – something that would have seriously have upset me having just paid millions for the varroa strips, but if our bees keep disappearing, it may well do so. CCD continues to occupy the minds of scientists all over the world and the solution to it all seems as [...]
ApisUK late again you say. Yes, well that is to do with technology. The written up Apis for March was all on my small notebook computer (just a few months old) which simply failed and is now being repaired under guarantee. Had I been sensible and backed it up on a stick, the computer [...]
February already and here we are harvesting before the combs get a chance to get contaminated with poisonous Tutin honeydew that tends to harm people here in NZ. This honeydew comes from leafhopper insects and is extremely toxic to humans but not bees.
As with the last issue, I’m looking through research items from 2010 [...]
Many of you will be wondering what happened to Apis UK this year and many of you have emailed in to ask when (and if) we were going to continue to produce this popular ezine. Well we are back. Production problems meant that in order to continue we needed to effectively re-model Apis [...]
Hi and welcome to 2008. Again you must have wondered if Apis UK would be seeing the light of day again after an absence of around 5 months. Unfortunately, these things do happen but we will aim for them not to happen again. I’ve had many messages from readers asking us when we will [...]
