Has the honey bee a future? Some facts about honey bees Pollinate - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Has the honey bee a future? Some facts about honey bees Pollinate - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Jul 07, 2023 288 likes •524 views

Has the honey bee a future? Some facts about honey bees Pollinate 60% of all commercial crops Contribute 400m annually to the economy Pollinate 70% of winter forage for birds and small wild animals More facts about honey bees

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Has the honey bee a future?

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Some facts about honey bees

  • Pollinate 60% of all commercial crops
  • Contribute £400m annually to the economy
  • Pollinate 70% of winter forage for birds and

small wild animals

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More facts about honey bees

  • Around 6 billion honey bees in UK
  • 95% maintained by hobbyists
  • Population declining by around 25% year on

year

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Reasons for decline

  • Reduction in forage due to farming practices
  • UK obsession with closely mown grass
  • Extensive use of pesticides
  • Foreign importations
  • Weather
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Changing farming practices

  • Enriching soil
  • Reduction of hedges
  • Monoculture

Possible solution – wildlife corridors

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Changing farming practices

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Obsession with mown grass

  • Verges
  • Publicly owned amenity land
  • Industrial estates

Possible solution – converting unused mown grass into maintained wild flower meadows

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Extensive use of pesticides

Neonicotinoids are highly effective,systemic pesticides, applied to seeds that:

  • Kill pollinators over a period of time
  • Affect bees’ location senses
  • Are banned in most of Europe but not UK
  • Freely available in most Garden Suppliers
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Foreign importations

British dark bee A m mellifera Italian bee A m lingustica Carniolan bee A m carnica

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Imported diseases

Varroa mite American foul brood European Foul brood

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Weather

To understand how weather affects bees it is necessary to understand the bees’ life cycle

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Honey bee life cycle

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Honey bee life cycle

Queen starts to lay eggs in mid January Around April / May bees produce queen cells Bees swarm before new queens hatch

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Honey bee life cycle

Newly hatched queens MUST mate successfully within 3 weeks

  • r will never be able to lay fertile eggs

Bad weather may prevent this!

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Honey bee life cycle

Honey bees normally live 5 to 6 weeks

► 0 - 6 days cell cleaning, general hive cleaning ► 3 - 9 days feeding the brood ► 3 - 15 days attending the queen ► 6 - 18 days honey processing ► 12 - 20 days wax production and comb building ► 20 - death hive ventilation

guard duty nectar, water & propolis collection

The exception is those bees hatching in October will cluster round the queen and remain largely inactive until the queen starts to lay again around January /February

These bees have a maximum life span of around 26 weeks

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Weather

  • Bad weather in Spring prevents queens from

mating successfully

  • Long winters result in “winter” bees dying

before “spring” bees hatch

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We are fighting back

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We are fighting back

  • Breeding native honey bees
  • Training new and developing beekeepers
  • Campaigning for wildlife corridors
  • Lobbying Council to plant wildflowers on

waste land rather than cutting grass

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You can help!

You can help by:

  • Reducing use of pesticides
  • Planting more nectar producing plants
  • Reducing areas of lawns
  • Supporting campaigns for wildlife corridors and wildflower

meadows