In These New Times

“Local beekeepers claim 90% of Moray’s wild honeybee colonies have been wiped out since 2007.”

With all due respect, “poor weather, bad management, a bee mite called varroa and pesticides” are unlikely to produce such a dramatic effect in so short a time. There has to be a new element and none of these is. The density and extent of electrosmog has increased exponentially in recent years and its impact on bees has long been known. The Moray beekeepers are aware of this factor but are discreetly, and perhaps wisely, failing to mention it such is the unpopularity of this thesis amongst certain powerful vested interests.

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Press and Journal

19th April, 2010

BEEKEEPERS in Moray launched a conservation project yesterday, with the first in a series of sessions outlining how people can help save the endangered honeybee.

The Moray Beekeepers Association recently set up a community apiary near Nether Birnie Farm, at Birnie, near Elgin.

The site contains six hives, and the group hopes to use it for breeding bees.

Yesterday, more than 20 people gathered at the site to pick up tips on how to attract the insects to their garden, as well as to find out more about beekeeping.

A further taster session will run next Sunday, from 1pm to 3pm. Attendees will don a beekeeping suit while they examine the inside of a hive.

Tony Harris, secretary for the association, said: “The first session went well, though it was snowing for a while which may have put some people off.

“A lot of people bring in bees from the south of England, but they just don’t survive very well.

“There’s a large number of people interested in beekeeping at the moment, so we’re hoping to be able to provide bees for them by breeding them at the apiary.”

Local beekeepers claim 90% of Moray’s wild honeybee colonies have been wiped out since 2007.

Poor weather, bad management, a bee mite called varroa and pesticides have all been blamed.

Dwindling numbers have prompted the UK Government to invest £10million on research into why the insects, which deliver about £200million of value to the British economy by pollinating crops, are dying out.

Mr Harris, of Cowie Muir, Fochabers, added that the group will begin their breeding programme in the summer.

Booking for the sessions is essential. Call Mr Harris on 01343 821282 or log on to http://www.moraybeekeepers.co.uk