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Page added on June 16, 2013
British Honeybees Are Dying Faster Than Ever
UK honeybee deaths were the worst on record, the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said in a statement on Thursday.
Over the 2012-2013 winter season, 34 honeybee colonies of every 100 were lost on average — more than double that of the previous year.
Widespread die-offs are being blamed largely on bad weather and a late spring, BBKA said in their report.
An exceptionally rainy season — the summer of 2012 was the wettest the UK had seen in 100 years — prevented honeybees from going out and collecting nectar and pollen from flowers, needed to nourish bees, produce honey, and to pollinate other crops. Poor nutrition, in turn, makes honeybees more susceptible to disease and other stressors. A scarcity of pollen and nectar even when honeybees were able to leave their hives served as an additional blow.
Poor weather also interfered with the mating of the virgin queen bees, the largest bee in the hive and the only female to mate, which lead many colonies to die-out.
Honeybees on this side of the pond were also hit hard over the winter, with some beekeepers in northern Illinois losing up to 80 percent of their hives.
The challenges faced by honeybees are many. Parasites and disease, poor nutrition, and pesticides all impact the health of these pollinators.
Major honeybee losses affect everyone. Honeybees are critical to one-third of all food and beverages that require pollination.
8 Comments on "British Honeybees Are Dying Faster Than Ever"
mike on Sun, 16th Jun 2013 7:38 pm
bullish for employment levels and cotton buds. Just think how many more people we can employ to go around pollinating all our crops with q tips. You people are always looking at the negative side of everything /sarcasm
BillT on Mon, 17th Jun 2013 1:13 am
You can send your ‘thank you’ cards to Dow Chemical, Monsanto and ConAgra. And you can tighten your belt if the rest of the bees die. You may be next.
rollin on Mon, 17th Jun 2013 2:09 am
When “Silent Spring” was published it had a profound effect, but not enough and not durable enough.
Chemistry, you can’t live with it, not in the long run, not the way it is applied today.
BillT hit the big players, but they don’t spread the stuff over the landscape, your food growers, your government and you buy it and spread it around. Tell them to stop and you stop using those poisons. Then watch life come back into a better balance.
Kenz300 on Mon, 17th Jun 2013 2:03 pm
The canary in the coal mine for the human species and the planet.
Bogdan on Mon, 17th Jun 2013 2:23 pm
This has been a very serious problem all over the globe, for many years now. Here in Romania I’ve heard of beekeepers who lost more than 50% or their colonies in the past 12 months…
GregT on Mon, 17th Jun 2013 3:36 pm
Mike hit the nail on the head. The hundreds of millions of unemployed office workers of the future, can be gainfully employed by pollinating crops to ensure their very survival.
Unless we trigger runaway climate change first.
IanC on Mon, 17th Jun 2013 9:48 pm
We just captured a wild swarm of bees and took it out to our property which is surrounded by many acres of crimson clover right now. Their survival and ability to thrive is crucial to the success of our agricultural venture. Wish us luck!
luap on Tue, 18th Jun 2013 12:02 pm
Well at least it may cut down food levels so the fatties of this planet consuming too much food…Will do them good and there Will “bee” food for all of us…well for a few years anyway..till the big collapse ..then its dog eat dog..or maybe human eat human…you never know