Beebase Registration for Scotland

[kevboab]

Well here goes, my first post. Firstly hello to everyone and can I say that I find the forum a huge asset and an invaluable tool for gaining hints, tips and an insight into a beekeepers mind.

I had heard at an association meeting that Beebase was going to be opening up its doors for us Scots and have since noticed that the time has finally arrived and we are now able to register. Personally, I think that this is a good initiative giving inspectors the knowledge of knowing where apiaries are sited should any problems arise without having to go through association secretaries etc to gain the information, more so in the current climate here in Scotland with EFB & AFB.

My questions on this subject are, what is the SBA's perspective on Beebase Registration? Should registration be compulsory for all bee keepers? Should bee keepers be left alone to their own devices and decide for themselves whether to register or not?

To be honest the questions I have on this subject are endless however I personally think that it is a huge step forward given the scale of problems we found ourselves with last year. Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing everyone's opinion.

[gavin]

Hi KB

Excellent post. Yes, BeeBase expanded last week to include Scotland and folk can now register. It should be a tremendous resource. I had hoped that there would be a separate Scottish area for parts of it, but it seems that we're all included in one combined England and Wales and Scotland BeeBase. As most of the governmental responsibilities are devolved, just as we have our own national organisation and our own ways in other respects maybe we could have done this better?

Anyway, yes, the SBA is all in favour of this. We debated our response to the consultation for the Scottish Honeybee Health Strategy nearly two years ago I think, and there was an overwhelming majority in favour of seeking a database of beekeepers as they have S of the border. I was surprised at the strength of the majority - these were SBA members turning up for one of the main SBA meetings of the year.

Has to be voluntary, though there will also be a private area for the Scottish inspectors to lodge their other records. No chance at all of compulsory registration, but I hope that all associations encourage their members to join. Of course there are folk who recoil at the thought of helping government keep tabs on things, but I hope that the majority of beekeepers see this as something for the greater good.

G.

[GRIZZLY]

It's nice to see that my registration now puts Stranraer in Dumfrieshire and not in "Cumbria" as registration was at first for the southern lot and to get registered we had to "borrow" a host county.It will be interesting to see if hive inspection improves.