Other issues arise with imported bees. She describes a recent incident with a novice beekeeper who acquired Buckfast bees, which are called after the Catholic abbey in southern England where they were first bred — the same abbey which makes the familiar tonic wine.
“Beginners often have trouble with controlling their bees,” says Nic Giolla Coda.
“The novice’s two nucs (nucleus colonies) swarmed and when the new queens took over, they mated with the native drones in the locality. Their progeny became extremely aggressive. She couldn’t go within six feet of them.
“When you have two subspecies hybridising it can lead to very aggressive behaviour in the bees… The beekeeper just rang us in desperation to see if we would have queens so she could re-queen the hive because they had become so aggressive.”
This, says Nic Giolla Coda, is a common experience. She believes a total ban on imports, or at the very least, the imposition of strict controls is vital to preserve the integrity of native bee populations.
“At a more basic level, there should be legislation at least to protect the native honeybee strongholds because they are a very important genetic resource. There are resorts in certain parts of Europe, in Belgium, Holland and Switzerland where the honeybee is protected. If they have conservation areas there, we should be entitled to have conservation areas here. Otherwise, native bees will disappear. It’s only a matter of time.”
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