Quote Originally Posted by greengumbo View Post
"bar is low enough" ? I think the bar is pretty high to be fair ! .... Is it surprising that colonies of near native Amm exist across Scotland ? Carnica have been the bee of choice for beefarmers and beekeepers in Germany for ages yet the stocks are still, despite this, surprisingly high in Amm genetics.
It's becoming more and more evident that the native bee/Amm prevails in our northern climate and tends to mate with its own kind, if possible. Here in the Ardnamurchan, surely helped by 4 successive poor, wet seasons for the bees, has shown this to be so. The bees which have survived and mated successfully in these conditions are showing little or no signs of their earlier mild hybridisation. Research findings will tell us more about this soon ... watch this space!