Bee Keeping

What bee decline and Promoting Bee habitats

Report on talk by Roger Parkis, bee keeper and Tim Adkin, Charnwood Borough Council 15/1/13

Roger Parkis began by saying that he was a member of Rutland Bee Keepers Association but was speaking on his own behalf. He'd kept honey bees for 40 years and had worked as an Environmental Health Officer at Charnwood. He told us he had quite a large apiary about 3 miles away.

A honey bee crisis? The press reported it as such and some bee keepers agreed. There was a lobby not to import Queens. He explained that originally bees came from Ethiopia and that there were 3 types of bees: Queens (tenials?), Workers (modified females) and Drones (males) and they were therefore complicated to breed. There are 8 well known species of bees and it was often asked if there were bees more suited to certain areas. He wasn't so sure that there were. Different races have different characteristics Bee keepers had to be registered with Fera who inspect bees for diseases. There are a lot of bees around but in the last 20 years Varroa has wiped out colonies of bees. There are very few wild colonies left whereas in the 1980s there were many wild colonies

Roger told us you learn how to handle bees, but you can never tame them. You do get stung, he is stung about 100 times a year.

The bee crisis he said was much talked about in the press and was it due to climate change, the Varroa mite. Medicines had been developed against Varroa but they residues were found in wax, so therefore bees were getting a dosage of the medicine. A chemical found in thyme is very effective but tedious to extract. Icing sugar is also effective as bees will then groom themselves to get rid of the mites. He added that it shows that what affects agriculture also affects bees.

Tim Adkin introduced his role as Access to Nature officer at the council and said it was a Lottery funded post. He told us he was recreating habitats as the countryside has changed, particularly farming. He'd created wild flower meadows in Loughborough and had planted flowers along major roads. In surveys undertaken there'd been a range of insects, the best being 35 honey bees per sq metre. There were 2.7 km of roadside verges with wild flowers. He told us that the seeds to plant in autumn were the blue and red flowers and those in spring were the whites and yellows. His aim was to achieve insect fly-ways throughout Charnwood through a mixture of annuals and perennials. He wanted to achieve a series of wet meadows, quality meadows and grasses important to other insects. Charnwood Forest has various habitats, such as heathland, acid grassland and Stonebow ?? washland.

Twenty years ago the planting encompassed the selective thinning of trees and under planting with wild flowers. Tim told us that in May they would be getting a pedestrian bailer which would enable the seeds to be scattered on bare ground. In June he'd been asked if he intended to fill the June gap of plants; That he'd replied depended on the right soil conditions and good luck

Richard Lowe sad he wasn't seeing honey bees, just bumble bees and hover flies. Both Roger and Tim replied that honey bees won't fly until it is 10*c

A comment was made that community orchards were doing well in Wymeswold and Ratcliffe and that they should be encouraged to keep bees.

Bobby Bartlett said that Mountfields allotments wanted approval to keep bee hives, why wasn't the council amenable? They wanted a maximum of 4 hives and had 7 allotments. Roger replied that it was very difficult if there was one person who doesn't like having bees there or if someone is stung there is the risk of litigation. They would rather hives were kept off allotment sites. He suggested contacting the Secretary of Leicestershire and Rutland Bee Keepers Association.

It was asked if the council was planning to introduce Evening Primrose as it spreads and likes poor quality soil? Tim replied that there were no plans.

It was asked if you could put hives in sheds? No, it wasn't cold enough replied Roger.

The university has received planning permission to site hives on the west/Holywell. It was hoped the gardeners would go on biodiversity courses as they do at Nottingham university.

Tim remarked that wild flowers and making hay had captured the public imagination.

The idea at the proposed community orchard on Maxwell Drive was to under sew with wild flowers.

Several people left their details so that a network of groups interested in bees might get together.

It was asked if there was going to be a meeting held on local food iniatives and if so would it be possible to get a list of local honey producers? We were told that this didn't exist yet.