http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...hives-collapseQuote:
Bee farmers in Scotland have reported losses on the American scale for the past three years. Andrew Scarlett, a Perthshire-based bee farmer and honey packer, lost 80% of his 1,200 hives this winter. But he attributed the massive decline to a virulent bacterial infection that quickly spread because of a lack of bee inspectors, coupled with sustained poor weather that prevented honeybees from building up sufficient pollen and nectar stores.
I think this is just catching up on the Mullin et al paper from a couple of months back but it does mention Perthshire for some reason.
It fails to mention the the highest levels of pesticides detected in the study were those applied by the beekeepers themselves to control varroa.
The US is in one unholy mess environmentally at the moment when you add in the the oil spill off the Louisiana coast which is a key wetland habitat for millions of waders and migrating birds.
If you think the BBKA sponsorship of certain pesticides is inappropriate, what about the RSPB link with BP?
