Bee News: June 2008

Standstill Order: 11 June to 23 July 2008

• No equipment may be taken from the apiary, everything you bring onto the site must stay there.
• Keep everything you use on your hive clean and sterile. There are tubs of washing soda solution in the shed for this purpose.
• On leaving the apiary dip your boots in the bucket by the gate, (even if you just to nip back to your car for your glasses).
• Use your hive tool only on your hive and once used, clean and place under the roof of your hive.
• Wear the disposable gloves from the box in the tin shed. If you are working with other hives change your gloves each time you visit a new hive
• The Bee Inspector has recommended that we stop using hive covers whilst the order is in place.
• Do not exchange frames and other hive equipment with other apiary members, you could be exchanging diseases too!
• Wash your bee suit if possible after every visit, that and your boots are the only things that you are aloud to take off the site so make sure they aren’t carrying disease material.

Missing

The Management Team have found that the following items of equipment are missing from the tin shed.

• Two stainless steel hive tools
• 13 of the 16 box covers that are used in the tin shed to cover the brood boxes and supers that are stored there. They were provided by Michael Evans who cut them to size and painted them white so it would be obvious that they belonged to the apiary!

If you have them please return them as soon as you possibly can.

Research Campaign - Bulletin No. 1 (12 May 2008)

With the campaign just three weeks old, following its official launch at the Spring Convention we are already making our mark.

Press

We have continued to get a great deal of coverage at all levels. The ‘nationals’ almost without exception, have carried articles, with the Guardian, Independent and Observer running substantial pieces. Visit their on-line sites and search for key words such as honey bee, research, disease and colony collapse, which should bring up items.

TV & Radio

items have been broadcast on Today, You and Yours, Chris Evans Drive Time, Radio 5 Live, Broadcasting House, World Service and Farming Today – the latter running a whole week on bees (28 Apr – 3 May). TV coverage has included The One Show, Breakfast and The Politics Show. Country File, Meridian TV and others are in production currently. There has been coverage on local radio too, of course. The BBC ‘listen again’ facility is invaluable, if you miss an item.

Westminster

Support is building through direct BBKA contacts, press exposure and of course, members letters to MPs. With the help of Ian Gibson MP we ran a very successful Parliamentary Briefing on 22 April. We had 22 MPs and Peers present, including Bill Wiggin (Shadow Farming Minister), Anne McIntosh (Shadow Environment Minister) and Vince Cable MP (Lib Dem). Amongst several positive outcomes is an Early Day Motion already tabled – more on this later. Parliamentary questions are also being tabled. The following were tabled on 8 May for example in the Lords:

Countess of Mar to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will allocate £8 million over five years from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’s contingency fund specifically for research on bee health; and whether they will consult the British Beekeepers’ Association and other interested parties to help prioritise research areas. HL3523

Countess of Mar to ask Her Majesty’s Government what would be the projected loss to the United Kingdom economy of the death of (a) 25 per cent, (b) 50 per cent, and (c) 75 per cent of the honey bee population in the United Kingdom. HL3524

Countess of Mar to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have assessed the non-financial costs to the environment of the total or partial loss of the honey bee population in the United Kingdom. HL3525

All of this is raising awareness to the campaign and to date, no one has suggested that our case is anything other than strong and fully justified. We are considering a mass lobby of MPs which would be on a Wednesday afternoon (the same day as Prime Minister’s Questions). The prospect of several hundred beekeepers in their ‘whites’ marching down Whitehall would be very news-worthy. Likely date: early - mid July. Your views on this are most welcome.

Letters to MPs & Ministers

Activity in this area is building. Draft letter formats are available in the tool-kit. Our friends in Northern Ireland have been very active covering both their Westminster and Stormont representatives. I know this, because like some other groups, they have regularly copied me in on their letters and more importantly, replies. It would be most helpful if you could ask members for copies of replies from Defra wherever possible. Caroline Thomson (INIB) has highlighted a most useful website for contacting local MPs etc: www.writetothem.com - take a look at it! However, many will still prefer to send a snail- mail, which is hard to click-off! Please encourage everyone to write to their MP; it is still one of the most effective means of protest and campaigning.

Early Day Motion

I mentioned earlier that an EDM has been tabled in the House of Commons on 8 May, supported initially by 24 MPs. It reads:

That this House notes the vital role that honey bees play in the pollinating of plants for foodand other crops; recognises that honey bees make the substantial contribution of £165 million annually to the agricultural economy, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA); acknowledges the potential impact a decline in honey bee populations would have on our environment and our diet; understands that the emergence of colony collapse disorder poses a significant threat to Britain's honey bee populations; further understands that a decline in the number of honey bees would not only threaten food crops but also every type of flora; further notes the concerns of many beekeepers that the Varroa Mite is becoming increasingly resistant to attempts to control it; congratulates the British Beekeepers' Association for the work it does and for the research programme it has recommended to DEFRA; and calls on the Government urgently to review the current arrangements for research into bee health.

It is important to get as many MPs to sign-up to this motion, which acts in a way as an MPs’ petition, being a sign of the support we have at Westminster. The way to do this is for Associations and members to write to their MP asking them to sign-up. I attach a draft letter to enable this, which may be of help and could of course be sent using the ‘writetothem’ web-site. You can check on who has signed-up by visiting the Parliament web-site: www.parliament.uk Action: write to MPs asking them to sign-up to EDM 1520 of 8 May 2008.

The Petition

It seems that our members just love doing this; it gives a real sense of participation. We distributed 11,500 petition forms with the April edition of BBKA News. If each member were simply to fill just one form with family, friends and workmates, that would yield 230,000 signatures, even before gathering thousands more at shows and events. As of Tuesday 13 May, we had received over 10.000 signatures at Stoneleigh – a great start, being over 25% of the total we got for the 2005 inspection cuts campaign! Keep everyone at it, think big and don’t miss an opportunity to gather signatures – then send them in to Stoneleigh.

Shows

These provide a superb opportunity to get the public behind us and by gathering petition signatures, show the Government that we have great support. I would dearly like to compile a list of upcoming shows and to have an idea of how many signatures we are targeting. Action: send to Tim Lovett dates and details of your local shows, please. This will help us to ensure that we have materials available. Remember that A5 flyers and, A4, A3 posters are available from Stoneleigh on request, plus stickers and petition forms. We also have some A1 posters and campaign logo roundels (50cm across), available on loan. Don’t forget to order well in advance to ensure availability of the quantities and items you need.

Fighting Fund

You will recall that I suggested earlier that Area Associations might like to consider sending a donation to the fighting fund (on average, dependent on size), of say £100. I am pleased to say that many Associations have already done so. Please encourage your own Association to contribute as soon as possible – campaigning doesn’t come cheap! Branches or Divisions might give in proportion if they wish. Some individuals have generously donated too, for which many thanks.

There is clearly much going on at all levels and yet more to do. We are making an impact with the public. Please urge your members to ensure that we are also having maximum impact with MPs, Defra and at Ministerial level. Keep up the good work on the petition and please keep me informed of responses, ideas and developments. Finally please follow-up on the action points in this bulletin; many thanks.

Tim Lovett (tjl@dermapharm.co.uk)

Research by numbers

BBKA statement on recent bee losses in Germany

Bee Losses:
Members of the BBKA Executive note with concern the recent devastating bee losses in Germany and elsewhere, which appear to be linked with pesticide use. Initial enquiries indicate that the principal problem seems to relate to the application of pesticides to seeds as a dressing. The substances were apparently applied at an unusually high dosage (to protect against Diabrotica - the corn root worm) and were inadequately ‘fixed’ to the seed, resulting in release into the environment during drilling, possibly blowing on to other crops, so contacting with bees. The German authorities have suspended the approvals for eight seed treatment products pending further investigations. The UK authorities are aware of this development and the following statement has been placed on the CSL web-site:

May 2008 - Seed Treatments and Bees

In respect of the current concerns about the threat of seed treatments for maize to bees, the Pesticides Safety Directorate has advised as follows: We are aware of the concerns in some other Member States about the use of certain seed treatments containing clothianidin and imidacloprid. However, we are not aware of any problem in the UK related to any seed treatments and bees. There have not been any incidents reported to the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) to date which could be connected to the use of seed treatments. Given the vigilance of beekeepers it is highly unlikely that had there been any incidents they would have gone unnoticed.

Of the three active substances which are mentioned only imidacloprid is approved for treatment of oilseed rape seed and clothianidin for maize seed. This is the first year in which treatment of maize seed with clothianidin has been approved in the UK. We note that in the incidents in Germany the treatment was being used at a very high rate, 125 g a.s./ha in an attempt to control Diabrotica. In the UK it is approved at a maximum rate of 60 g a.s./ha on maize.

We will, of course, keep a close watch on the situation but currently have no concerns that use of these products according to the conditions of approval will cause a risk to bees in the UK.

The BBKA will continue to monitor developments in this area and will advise its Associations and members as more information becomes available.

BBKA Policy on Product Endorsement

The BBKA, with the full knowledge of its membership, has for many years engaged positively with agro-chemical manufacturers in the interest of achieving responsible use of chemicals and pesticides where bees are concerned. The BBKA Technical Committee reviews data presented to it relating to products, which must have already received full governmental approval. Where appropriate, the committee advises the BBKA Executive that the product can be considered to be ‘bee friendly’, provided that they are used correctly as per their approval. The BBKA Executive then decides whether or not to endorse the product. Currently just four products are endorsed, namely: Decis/Pearl Micro (deltamethrin), Hallmark with Zeon Technology (lambda cyalothrin), Fastac/Contest (alpha-cypermethrin) and Fury10EW/Minuet (zeta-cypermethrin). These products are all based on synthetic pyrethroids, related to substances widely used by beekeepers to control the varroa mite. Alarmist statements that they are ‘toxic to bees’ relate only to the active ingredients, not to the marketed product formulations themselves when used according to the recommended dosages and methods of application. The substances implicated in the German incident are members of the entirely unrelated neonicotinoid group and have NOT been endorsed by the BBKA.

An endorsement agreement is established for each product, which is reviewed routinely every three years. The agreement demands that the company keeps the BBKA fully informed of any development or incident involving the product (or their active substances) and reserves the right to cancel the endorsement without notice and at any time in the event that it can no longer be assured of the product’s ‘bee friendly’ status. Any donation made by the companies concerned, none of which has exceeded £5000 per annum, is dealt with by the Executive, NOT by the Technical Committee, which restricts its advice to the matter of whether the product can be considered ‘bee friendly’ or not. Funds so generated, are used for the promotion of beekeeping in line with the BBKA charitable objects and for example have supported ‘Bees in the Curriculum’ and the Member’s Register.

The policy of positive engagement with the agro-chemical industry has been notably successful. The UK Pesticides Guide contains a section provided by the BBKA which lists 10 points for good practice when using pesticides. Companies include reminders of good practice in their bulletins, as well as on package inserts. The result of this has been that the frequent poisonings on the 1990s have become a thing of the past in this country; single or nil incidents per annum have become the norm and have been shown to be due to misuse, misapplication or have involved products not endorsed by the BBKA.

The BBKA policy on product endorsement is not secret, and has been aired in BBKA News, discussed at the 2003 and 2004 Annual Forums and received de facto endorsement at the 2005 Annual Delegate Meeting, when a motion to end the policy was rejected voting 9 for; 30 against with 6 abstentions. The policy is kept under regular review, but it is understood that not all members are comfortable with it. On balance it is, however, the view of the Executive and the membership as expressed through our democratic process that the policy has delivered much good to bee keeping in this country. Notwithstanding the foregoing the BBKA is alerted to the current situation.

The BBKA Executive will continue to monitor developments in this important area which affect our bees’ health at a time when bees are under threat from a number of factors. We will then provide balanced information to our membership and beekeepers in general to assist them in working to maintain a healthy bee population.

Anyone interested in starting beekeeping?

As you are probably aware, the National Honey Show has changed it's venue and date. You can find more general information here.

This year for the first time, the NHS is offering 'Introduction to Beekeeping' lectures on two days. As the name suggests, people who are likely to attend these are not existing beekeepers so will not read the 'usual' channels of communication within our community, so please tell anyone who may be interested about this course.

The lectures will be given by John Hendrie (two one-hour slots on Friday) and Chris Deaves (three one-hour slots on Saturday). They will not involve 'live' beekeeping.

Thank you all once again for your contributions to your Bee News. This edition has been put together in haste so that you could informedl of the current situation at the Hampton Court Apiary. We had hoped that the news would be rather more positive this time but now we all have to buckle down and really be determined to eradicate EFB from our apiary.

David Priest, Editor