Hi Gavin,

Our situation in the West is not as bad as the East or Perthshire. We don't have commercial operations, only hobby beekeepers. We can also use the geography of the area. We are not by any means perfect as we do have hybrid colonies given to new beekeepers by our local association. We do have the chance to change the colonies back to native black with the co-operation of all the local beekeepers and by surveying our area over a number of years we have built up a picture of where to locate our breeding colonies and where hybrid queens need to be replaced. The long term aim is to breed enough black bees to change the colonies in our local area then protect this area, which is also helped by the geography. (similar to the Gaultee group). Eventually be able to offer black bees to other groups interested in preserving them. We are a number of years from these aims but we think with co-operation and help from other beekeepers we should be able to achieve them.

Jimbo