Save the beeeeees

[thebushcrafter99]

i've signed so please do so your selves
Thanks Ed
P.S oh and please share with friends family and everyone else!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bye_bye_killers_uk/?tleHqeb

 

[British Red]

Link please?

 

[thebushcrafter99]

Link please?

sorry link added now
Cheers Ed

 

[Bushwhacker]

Badgers do quite a good job of destroying ground-nesting bee colonies.

 

[British Red]

For information, the British Beekeepers Association cautions to wat until the results of various UK studies before persuing a ban on neonicotinoids and does not support the petition at this time as it is concerned that alternate pesticides used may be more harful. I am happy to send the document covering this to anyone who sends me an e-mail address but sadly its in PDF format with copy disabled so I cannot paste it in here.

Hope that helps

 

[Joel_m]

I am a member of the BBCT (Bumblebee conservation trusts) so have been following this debate, the BBCT have a similar position by the sounds of it to that of the British bee-keepers association. For anyone interested more info can be found here:

This explains their position:
http://bumblebeeconservation.org/news/

And in more detail:

http://bumblebeeconservation.org/images/uploads/News/BBCT_Position_on_Neonics_March_2013_Final.pdf

 

[Colin.W]

I've been a member of this forum http://www.biobees.com/forum/index.php for a number of years. People who really care about bees, the honey is just a bonus the health of the bees is number one priority The BBKA have constantly dismissed them as clueless amateurs while the BBKA are happy to take the money to put their name to known bee toxins, insist on removing nearly all the bees winter store of honey to boost their sales and give the bees sugar water, which will keep them alive but not in the best condition If bees are allowed to build their own cells to sizes they prefer varoa mite is more readily controlled without the use of chemicals. We need more people to keep bees in a more natural way as a hobby not just for profit, that includes people with large enough space provide areas for bumbles and solitary bees to take up residence

 

[ReamviThantos]

i wish i had time for this, a very worthwhile hobby. i'd be happy to leave all the honey for the critters who worked for it too. Good luck.

 

[SCOMAN]

I'm hoping to be living in a home I (and the bank) own. I've been lead to believe bees preferred habitat has disappeared over the years what can I plant to help the little bleeders out. I'm thinking of apple and also cheery trees so I need their help.

 

[Joel_m]

I'm hoping to be living in a home I (and the bank) own. I've been lead to believe bees preferred habitat has disappeared over the years what can I plant to help the little bleeders out. I'm thinking of apple and also cheery trees so I need their help.

There are loads of plants that will help Bees,
I have a fairly small back garden in which I use to grow veg around the lawn, instead of the usual raised boxed rows of veg (nothing wrong with that method at all just thought I'd try something different) I planted the garden up with plants that attract pollinators mainly focussed on Bumblebees. In-between the pollinator plants and in growing tubs I put various food crops, so far its been really successful and I usually get a pretty good yield all naturally pollinated with the added bonus I get to watch all the insects, bees and butterfly bumbling about doing their thing while I am out in the garden.
Many of the plants I've used are also edible, cheery trees are a great example of this. if you are interested some of the plants I have had success with ie really seem to attract bumblebees are:

Stawberrys - They seem to prefer the wild Alpine variety rather than the heavily bread and cultivated ones
Rosemary
Lavender (they love these plants - especially white Lavender)
Thyme
Red currant (especially good as it flowers early so provides food for the early bees and attracts them for early crops).
Raspberry
Chives
Blackberry
Mint
Cherry

Some of the other plants I have used (not sure if they are edible or not):
Vipers Bugloss (hard to find in garden centers I managed to track down a seed pack a while ago but likes sandy soil.. not so good in my heavy clay soil)
Borage
Heather
Fuchsia
Lungwort
Lupins
Wisteria

I have a lot of others food crops and flowering plants but the list above seem to really attract the insects. I know Buddleia is meant to be really good too.. I just don't have space! interestingly since planting my garden up like this I really don't seem to get any wasps in the summer now (this is purely anecdotal I know!).

Anyone thinking of doing some veg growing for the first time or laying out a new garden I would really recommend this "traditional cottage garden" method. For instance I usually get enough potatoes to see myself and SWMBO through the year and it is a small garden, plus if nothing else it appeals to my inner child... searching through the plants to see what I can find "oooh found some Garlic ... forgot I planted that..."

If you are interested this is a good link to look at gardening for Bees. I had Bumblebee boxes for years with nothing taking residence in them, since planting the garden up I had my first colony!

http://beekind.bumblebeeconservation.org/

 

[MrHare]

For information, the British Beekeepers Association cautions to wat until the results of various UK studies before persuing a ban on neonicotinoids and does not support the petition at this time as it is concerned that alternate pesticides used may be more harful. I am happy to send the document covering this to anyone who sends me an e-mail address but sadly its in PDF format with copy disabled so I cannot paste it in here.

Hope that helps

I'm not sure it's quite that simple. There's a good deal of controversy and suspicion among keepers about the BBKA's motives. The recent letter sent out by the BBKA was very defensive in tone, and did nothing to address the valid criticisms raised by local associations. This particular row has been going on for a few years now. It's also a little suspicious that the 2 recent research papers produced by FERA ( part of DEFRA ) on this topic were funded by a major producer of neonicotinoid pesticides.

 

[ReamviThantos]

There are loads of plants that will help Bees,
I have a fairly small back garden in which I use to grow veg around the lawn, instead of the usual raised boxed rows of veg (nothing wrong with that method at all just thought I'd try something different) I planted the garden up with plants that attract pollinators mainly focussed on Bumblebees. In-between the pollinator plants and in growing tubs I put various food crops, so far its been really successful and I usually get a pretty good yield all naturally pollinated with the added bonus I get to watch all the insects, bees and butterfly bumbling about doing their thing while I am out in the garden.
Many of the plants I've used are also edible, cheery trees are a great example of this. if you are interested some of the plants I have had success with ie really seem to attract bumblebees are:

Stawberrys - They seem to prefer the wild Alpine variety rather than the heavily bread and cultivated ones
Rosemary
Lavender (they love these plants - especially white Lavender)
Thyme
Red currant (especially good as it flowers early so provides food for the early bees and attracts them for early crops).
Raspberry
Chives
Blackberry
Mint
Cherry

Some of the other plants I have used (not sure if they are edible or not):
Vipers Bugloss (hard to find in garden centers I managed to track down a seed pack a while ago but likes sandy soil.. not so good in my heavy clay soil)
Borage
Heather
Fuchsia
Lungwort
Lupins
Wisteria

I have a lot of others food crops and flowering plants but the list above seem to really attract the insects. I know Buddleia is meant to be really good too.. I just don't have space! interestingly since planting my garden up like this I really don't seem to get any wasps in the summer now (this is purely anecdotal I know!).

Anyone thinking of doing some veg growing for the first time or laying out a new garden I would really recommend this "traditional cottage garden" method. For instance I usually get enough potatoes to see myself and SWMBO through the year and it is a small garden, plus if nothing else it appeals to my inner child... searching through the plants to see what I can find "oooh found some Garlic ... forgot I planted that..."

If you are interested this is a good link to look at gardening for Bees. I had Bumblebee boxes for years with nothing taking residence in them, since planting the garden up I had my first colony!

http://beekind.bumblebeeconservation.org/

They also love my foxglove collection too.

 

[Elen Sentier]

I've been a member of this forum http://www.biobees.com/forum/index.php for a number of years. People who really care about bees, the honey is just a bonus the health of the bees is number one priority The BBKA have constantly dismissed them as clueless amateurs while the BBKA are happy to take the money to put their name to known bee toxins, insist on removing nearly all the bees winter store of honey to boost their sales and give the bees sugar water, which will keep them alive but not in the best condition If bees are allowed to build their own cells to sizes they prefer varoa mite is more readily controlled without the use of chemicals. We need more people to keep bees in a more natural way as a hobby not just for profit, that includes people with large enough space provide areas for bumbles and solitary bees to take up residence

Quite agree - this is one of Hubby's things! Another couple of girlfriends work this way too and have found the same results re the varoa mite. Feeding sugar-water is not good food, it's subsitence and drags the health of the bees down. Consequently we have grave suspicions of their opposition to the neonictinides. And ... a chemist friend tells me that the ending "ide" means it's a poison ...

 

[British Red]

a chemist friend tells me that the ending "ide" means it's a poison ...

Of course it is - but farming requires the use of many biocides. The point the BBKA is making at the moment is that the current alternatives are probably worse. I haven't personally done the research - I am not a biochemist. It will always be a balance between the needs of all the productive users of the countryside.

To me its a "jury is still out" situation.

 

[Joel_m]

Quite agree - this is one of Hubby's things! Another couple of girlfriends work this way too and have found the same results re the varoa mite. Feeding sugar-water is not good food, it's subsitence and drags the health of the bees down. Consequently we have grave suspicions of their opposition to the neonictinides. And ... a chemist friend tells me that the ending "ide" means it's a poison ...

"ide" Doesn't mean poison, I believe (and its been a while since I have done this stuff) it is to do with the ionic form of the element (or anionic form don't remember which and I am sure someone will come and correct me... yes I think its anionic). Such as "Oxide" as in Iron Oxide aka rust or Soduim Chloride aka salt.... Carbon Dioxide...etc...

ReamviThantos - Foxgloves good for bees... ah yes forgot about them.. you are right very good attractors although I planted mine all the same year (stupidly) so I only get them in the Garden every other year... note to self stagger planting!

 

[Swallow]

"cide" means kill...homicide, suicide, pesticide..

 

[SCOMAN]

Cheers for the gardening tips all

 

[Deaner666]

I'm a beekeeper, a member of my local beekeepers association and a member of the BBKA. I keep bees in the "traditional" way, in boxes with frames of wax foundation.

I've investigated the "biobees" method of beekeeping using top bar hives. The proponents of this method of beekeeping like to call it "natural" beekeeping, which is of course nonsense, it's no more natural than keeping bees in square boxes. I'm just as capable of sprinkling icing sugar over my bees in their square box as a "natural" beekeeper with his bees in a top bar hive (although I actually choose to use Hiveclean).

The idea that top bar hives are more "natural" because they are what's used by rural peoples in Africa is also nonsense - it was the British that introduced top bar hives to Kenya as recently as the 70s I believe! (as a low cost way for them to keep bees sustainably).

As with most things, an ideal probably exists somewhere between the two extremes of beekeeping.

Back to the point though, despite being a member of the BBKA, I am all for the petition as proposed by Avaaz and have already signed it myself. Being on the inside of the BBKA I'm able to see the kind of organisation they are, and I don't much like it. I don't trust them at all. It's an acknowledged fact that they were taking money off the agro-chemical industries for years, and would still be doing so if they could get away with it. They only stopped when they got caught in the act and were embarrassed by national press coverage. Even the insistence of their local associations is of little consequence to them.

The recent defensive memo sent out by the BBKA just read like a propagandist excuse and confirmed to me they are still sat squarely in the pocket of the agro-chemical industries.

I'm a member of two large associations - the BBKA and the British Mountaineering Council (BMC). The difference between the two is stark. I feel proud to be a member of the BMC, who do great work in achieving access to the countryside, providing advice and guidance to their members, providing excellent insurance for a variety of circumstances and are always seeking the opinions of their membership through votes. They live and breath the outdoors, mountains, climbing and walking.

The BBKA on the other hand, come across as a bunch of stuffy suits who spend all their time crunching numbers and treating the association as a bureaucratic business plaything. Bees are just incidental - an excuse for them to play at being bureaucrats. They do provide some good materials for guidance, but only one strict methodology, they don't tend to be interested in alternative ideas about beekeeping they just churn out the old methods they've been using for years (most beekeepers and certainly most high-ups in the BBKA are oldies), they do offer insurance which is welcome but I truly have to wonder if they have even the slightest iota of a care for the bees they are sworn to protect.

If there was even a hint that neonicitonoids harmed bees in even sub-lethal doses, shouldn't the national association of beekeepers be absolutely proactive in trying to confirm the truth, rather than just sitting back on its haunches and assuming that what the agro-chemical industries say is true, instead of sitting back and assuming that flawed FERA tests are true, instead of saying that we should carry on using these potentially catastrophic chemicals until we "find out more" even at a time when bee colony losses are HUGE and after we've just had the worst beekeeping season in living memory?

And of course, there is WAY more than just a hint that neonicitonoids are a huge threat to bees, hence the European countries banning them (such as France, Germany and Italy)!

Just to reiterate. The BBKA for years took money from the likes of Bayer, and in return allowed them to put BBKA logos on their pesticides that said "bee friendly". Pesticides. I think we all know what a pesticide is. A chemical that kills insects.

Far from being proud of being a member of the BBKA, I am ashamed. I only joined again this year to have access to my local association, I'll be rethinking hard whether or not I join again next year. If I could access the local association without giving money to the BBKA it would be a no-brainer.