By Marion Lang

May 2009
On mid-summer’s day in 1995 I was gifted a cast of bees by a local beekeeper.     They prospered from the start and in no time at all I found myself the proud owner of several hives.
A year or so later when varroa was found in the vicinity my bees were inspected by Sandy Lister.     I was given the all-clear but warned that my bees would probably have it within two years.
I fitted varroa floors to the hives for easy monitoring and in September 1998 I found my first mite.
Over the years I have used various treatments but only if I felt it was necessary.     Mite levels remained low and presented no significant problem.  The occasional bee showed signs of virus and for a spell I had a number of black hairless bees.   Some hives did not do as well as others but on the whole they still prospered.
In the late 1990s I began to notice environmental changes.    The lapwings once so abundant all but disappeared and the winter geese numbers dropped dramatically.
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