If it really has been hidden by the commercial beekeepers for a year it must be widespread in Italy at this point, if not further afield.
Some commercial beekeepers think they are above the law unfortunately.
That documentary where 291 packages were loaded up shows just how easy it would be for the beetle to move from Italy to Scotland or anywhere else in Europe in a single jump. Total madness.
Indeed, but the truth is that we are tightly packed on these islands and totally dependent on imports for all sorts of stuff and so it is politically expedient to keep international trade as cheap, easy and trouble free as possible. Our border control and licencing procedures are a facade that merely pay lip service to any meaningful idea of bio security and are mostly in place simply to cover peoples* backs when the shit does hit the fan.
*for "people" read politicians and civil servants, ("we were doing something, we even had a contingency exercise!")
Vita blog, which also relays some of the Apitalia article:
http://www.vita-europe.com/blog/smal...rrives-europe/
Professor Vincent Palmeri of the University of Reggio Calabria said in a report in Apitalia that he found the beetle in three small swarms near the port of Gioia Taura.
Quite. How about this from the very same page:Originally Posted by The Drone Ranger
Haunter of hives.
That could catch on
Beekeepers, do not make the ostriches! Reported the presence of small hive, he goes to the middle of the future of your business and the future of your bees.
Importers of foreign bees into the Uk have been making the ostriches for years. The Italians aren't alone.
Soon as I finish this Skep I'm going to knock together a few ostriches
A bit of background. Piedmont, from where the 2013 packages came. Gioia Tauro in Calabria where Small Hive Beetle has just been detected. Sicily, which has migratory beekeepers that move to the area of Calabria around Gioia Tauro. In fact more than just from Sicily, but someone gave them special mention. The map shows queen breeders of ligustica and sicula that are registered with two organisations: Albo Nazionale Allevatori Api Italiane and Associazione Italiana Allevatori Api Regine.
It might be nice now to have an idea of the origins of the 3000 queens that came into the UK in 2014.
I think it's time to rebuild hadrians wall.
you never know, that might just happen tomorrow
The trouble is we can't tell which side of the wall might have the beetles.
I notice there is still no import ban yet but I guess they think there is little point until next spring. I wonder if it is known where all this year's imports ended up so that a proper survey can be done.
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