Apiarists create real buzz to save Scots honey bee

Scottish bees put under strain due to increased popularity of beekeeping

A Tayside bee expert is spearheading a campaign to save Scotland’s endangered native honey bee.

The species is under threat from disease and imported honey bees but the Scottish Native Honey Bee Society, which launches in April, aims to redress the balance in favour of the locals. The first meeting of the new organisation will be held in Perth on April 1.

Gavin Ramsay, owner of Tay Bees and Honey and the bee health and science officer at the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association, has been one of the driving forces behind the formation of the society.

He said: “Scottish native honey bees are a brown bee with a reputation for frugality which helps them withstand even the dreichest of Scottish weather.

“It has been getting increasingly difficult to find good pure examples and if we don’t take action to reverse their decline we may see them disappear.”

Ironically, some of the problems facing the Scottish bee, come from the resurgence of beekeeping as a hobby.

Gavin said: “It’s fantastic that there are so many new beekeepers today but many of the bees available to them are derived from imported stock of nonnative bees and when these cross with our native strain it puts the Scottish bee in big trouble.”

It is hoped the newly-established Scottish Native Honey Bee Society will help beekeepers promote the conservation and study of the native species. “We want to raise awareness that there is a native honey bee in Scotland and that there is value in its conservation,” said Dr Ewan Campbell of Aberdeen University.

Picture: Angus Findlay. Gavin Ramsay with his hives in Perthshire.