Scottish Bee Health Surveillance report

[gavin]

Here's an interesting piece on the beekeeping of the 65 beekeepers sampled:

'Most beekeepers (58%) manage a small number of colonies (five or fewer); a statistic reflected by
data gathered on BeeBase. Only five of the beekeepers questioned (8%) managed 20 or more
colonies (Figure 2). When asked about their plans for the future, half (49%) planned to increase
the number of colonies managed, and only 5% planned to reduce their apiary size. When
replenishing stocks, most (71%) source their bees locally using either their own breeding
programme or local suppliers, and only 3% had bought bees from overseas.'

Only 3% (ie two) had bought bees from overseas.

[gavin]

'These figures equate to a total overwintering loss of
11% colonies across Scotland during 2011-12 and 32% during 2012-13 (Figure 4).'

So why are folk claiming that more than half the bees in Scotland have died? Is that because the commercial losses are (bucking the trend internationally) worse than the hobbyists?

Also, the Dundee University/SBA survey reports dramatic losses in the hobby sector. 30% was it (in 2011-12)? Much larger than this survey would suggest, near enough three fold in fact. The data in the SG report come from a random sample of BeeBase registrations whereas the Dundee University stuff comes from self-reporting from those motivated enough to send their returns to Dundee University. Interesting contrast.

[gavin]

I don't see mention of Fife in the SG report. Wasn't that an area singled out by C Connolly for its particularly high rate of losses?

[The Drone Ranger]

I think losses have been high Gavin
Several folk have approached me about bees saying they lost most or all of their bees
Although they would hardly ring me to say they had plenty bees, I suppose