Beekeeping news
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A bee story (with a difference)
By Aryeh Dean Cohen
Israel21c - September 6, 2010
A spring-only flowering season left Israeli beekeepers struggling to find blossom for their hives. Now a new project appears to be saving the day, and increasing honey production to boot. With nectar now readily available year-round, Israeli bees are increasing their honey production. Israel may be a desert, going six months of the year without rain, but local bee populations are thriving and honey production rising thanks to a new flowering tree brought over from Australia.
Link to article on Israel21c
Bee decline already having dramatic effect on pollination of plants
By Richard Alleyne
Telegraph - September 6, 2010
A decline in bees and global warming are having a damaging effect on the pollination of plants, new research claims. Researchers have found that pollination levels of some plants have dropped by up to 50 per cent in the last two decades. The "pollination deficit" could see a dramatic reduction in the yield from crops. The research, carried out in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, is the first to show that the effect is real and serves as a "warning" to Britain which if anything has seen an even greater decline in bees and pollinators. "This serves as a warning to other countries," said Professor James Thomson at the University of Toronto, who carried out the research.
Link to article in the Telegraph
Ian Douglas returns to beekeeping with the help of an ingenious new hive
Telegraph - September 3, 2010
There is a cloud of very placid bees buzzing around my head and face as I move frames of honeycomb from a small, white plastic carrying box to a large purple hive, also plastic, and I’m grinning. A van has just arrived at the London allotments where I have been keeping bees for two years, before they lost their queen over winter.
Link to article on Telegraph
Link to previous entries of the 'Beekeeping Diary'
Comparison of the antimicrobial activity of Ulmo honey from Chile and Manuka honey against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
7th Space Interactive - September 2, 2010
Honey has previously been shown to have wound healing and antimicrobial properties, but this is dependent on the type of honey, geographical location and flower from which the final product is derived. We tested the antimicrobial activity of a Chilean honey made by Apis mellifera (honeybee) originating from the Ulmo tree (Eucryphia cordifolia), against selected strains of bacteria.
Link to article on 7th Space Interactive
A billboard spelt out by 100,000 bees has been creating a buzz in Devon.
By Laura Joint
BBC - August 31, 2010
The bees, from South Molton-based Quince Honey Farm, spelt out SOS in what is thought to be the world's first billboard 'written' entirely by bees. The SOS stands for Save Our Swarms and is part of an advertising campaign by wine company Banrock Station.
Link to article and video on BBC
Spoonful of sugar may make honey bees' greatest destroyer back down
By Sean MacConnell
Irish Times - August 31, 2010
SOME BEEKEEPERS are sprinkling their honey bees with caster sugar to defeat the biggest threat to Irish honey bees, the varroa mite. The bees lick it off their companions and the process causes great excitement in the hive, with the result that the mites fall off the bees and get disturbed by the vibrations. This folk remedy is one of the weapons being used by Ireland’s 2,000 beekeepers to control the disease, which presents the single greatest threat to the honey bee population.
Link to article in Irish Times
Honey Laundering
By John Croman
Kare11.com (US) - August 31, 2010
Senator Amy Klobuchar, D - Minnesota, walked into the political bee hive that is international trade policy Monday at the State Fair. "I'm not trying to stop all honey imports," Klobuchar told reporters at a news conference with honey producers in the Agriculture Exhibits Building, "It's just that customers have right to know what's in their honey and where it truly comes from."
Link to article on Kare11.com
E H Thorne Ltd announce dates for winter sales
Thorne - August 30, 2010
- October 9, 2010 - one-day sale at Windsor
- October 23, 2010 - one-day sale at Stockbridge
- November 20, 2010 - Open day at new premises: Beehive Business Park, Rand, Near Wragby LN8 5NJ.
Online mail order winter sale will start on Monday, November 29, 2010.
Contact: Gill Smith
Link to E H Thorne (Beehives) Ltd
Scientist of the Week: Dennis vanEngelsdorp
Laboratory Equipment - August 26, 2010
This week’s scientist of the week is Dennis vanEngelsdorp from Penn State University. vanEngelsdorp has been tracing and researching the rapid decline of honeybee colonies, a problem he says has heavy implications as bees are intrinsically linked to our environment, as well as our food supply.
Link to interview with Dennis vanEnglesdorp on Laboratory Equipment
Could a superbee from Swindon save the world?
By Alison Benjamin
Guardian - August 25, 2010
A honeybee bred in the town could kill the mite that has wiped out billions of bees around the world. Will Swindon be remembered as the home of a major breakthrough in halting the global decline of the honeybee? Ron Hoskins, a 79-year-old beekeeper from the town, has spent the last 18 years looking for a bee that is resistant to the parasite blamed for killing billions worldwide. And yesterday he claimed that his superbee could assure the future of the insect that pollinates around a third of everything we eat.
Link to article in the Guardian
Secrets of the swarm
By Holly Williams
Independent - August 23, 2010
Individually, insects might not seem like candidates for intellectual plaudits. But collectively they have a brilliance that can teach us new skills. Insects, birds, fish – they're not the most intelligent of beasts, right? Creepy crawlies or aquatic creatures are the ones humans feel furthest from; unlike many mammals, they don't engage behaviour that is easy to anthropomorphise. We rarely think that an ant is endearing, see a human likeness in a starling, or signs of intelligence in a trout.
Link to article on the Independent
Parasite meets its match in a dedicated beekeeper
By Katie Bond
Swindon Advertiser - August 19, 2010
HE may have found the solution to a sticky problem that has devastated the country’s bee population for years, but beekeeper Ron Hoskins is not stopping there. Despite approaching his 80th birthday, Ron is hoping to raise £4,000 so his solution to the deadly parasitic mite varroa can be rolled out across Wiltshire in the hope that honeybees can survive in the wild.
Link to article in Swindon Advertiser
Queen helps bees by doubling hives at Buckingham Palace
Express - August 19, 2010
THE Queen is doing her bit to help our beleaguered bees by doubling the number of hives at Buckingham Palace but should concerned garden party guests discreetly arm themselves with a rolled-up newspaper? Not at all, says the Queen’s bee-keeper John Chappel. Her Majesty only has polite bees. Chappel is in charge of the 35 hives which provide the royal kitchens with honey - praised by the Queen as “very nice”.
Link to article in Express
City bees show a richer diet than bees from farmlands
BBC - August 17, 2010
Farmlands sown to feed us well lead to impoverished diets for bees Bees in urban and suburban settings have a richer, healthier diet than bees in farmland settings, say researchers. Honeybee hives from 10 National Trust sites were studied in an attempt to assess the link between bee health and the diversity of pollen they encounter. Bees from farmlands showed a distinctly narrower range of pollens than both urban and untouched "natural" settings. The find is part of the Bee Part Of It campaign being run by the BBC and the National Trust.
Link to article on BBC
New study on the effects of pesticides on the bee population
Rural Enterprise Solutions - August 17, 2010
The study, published in the journal Toxicology, suggests that the effects on bees, of two particular neonicotinoid pesticides, known as imidacloprid and thiacloprid, have been previously underestimated. Even low concentrations of the pesticides may be more deadly than previously thought, due to their high persistence in soil and water, suggesting that these pesticides may play a significant role in the death of bees.
Link to article on Rural Enterprise Solutions
Beekeeping industry - another casualty of floods
By Tariq Saeed
Pakistan Observer - August 17, 2010
Peshawar—Attaur Rehman, a 25-year-old beekeeper, was living a happy life until July 29, 2010 when floods washed away dozens of his bee-boxes in his village Dheri Mian Ishaq on the banks of River Kabul in Nowshera District.
Link to article on Pakistan Observer
Scientists stunned as bee populations continue to decline
Natural News - August 16, 2010
Scientists remain stymied as honeybees in the United States and across the world continue to die in large numbers. "There are a lot of beekeepers who are in trouble" said David Mendes, president of the American Beekeeping Federation. "Under normal condition you have 10 percent winter losses ... this year there are 30, 40 to 50 percent losses."
Link to article on Natural News
Incredible beard of bees
Mirror - August 16, 2010
Fearless Tibor Szabo poses covered by a swarm of bees. He was taking part in a whacky competition to sport the best honeybee "beard" when he became completely smothered.
Link to article on the Mirror
CountryFile interviews Professor Francis Ratnieks
BBC 1 - 18.30 - August 15, 2010
'Ellie’s been meeting up with Professor Francis Ratnieks and his team at Sussex University to discover the language bees. They’re able to understand the bees’ unique form of communication in the hive which is known as the ‘Waggle Dance’. This is the way bees are able to tell the rest of the hive where to find food. The professor and his team decode the direction and length of the dance which corresponds to where they have found a reliable source of pollen and nectar. It’s hoped this information will then inform landowners what, where and when to plant and that this will help the bee population survive long into 21st Century.'
Link to BBC CountryFile
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The Botanic Garden is the place to bee
Bristol University - August 9, 2010
A festival later this month aims to raise awareness and understanding of the critical role bees and other animals play in pollination and the importance of pollination for food production.
A celebration of bees and pollination, which coincides with the International Year of Biodiversity, will take place at the University of Bristol’s Botanic Garden at The Holmes, Stoke Bishop, Bristol from Saturday 28 to Monday 30 August.
Link to press release on Bristol University
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