Too bee . . or not?

Last year a swarm of bees arrived in our garden. Having no experience of beekeeping, we decided we would learn as much as we could about bee husbandry. We attended a beginners’ course and also went to a few meetings, one of which was organised by the Scottish Native Honey Bee Society.

It was at this meeting we were appalled to discover that most of the bees kept by beekeepers are in fact non-native – one of the most popular, due to its high honey yield, being the Buckfast strain. This is a man-made race of bees of Italian origin.

Our native bee has been around since the end of the Ice Age but like our native wildcat, due to hybridisation, lack of habitat and also disease is in serious decline. There are

a few pockets of native honey bees still surviving but due to the increase in beekeeping and the introduction of foreign

bees, our own native bees are under threat. The Scottish beekeeping sector comprises some 3,000 beekeepers manwhose

aging 20,000 hives, each hive containing between 20,000 and 80,000 bees.

Therefore we have decided not to introduce any more foreign bees into the environment to compete with our native polinators.

EVE & WILLIE MCDONALD

Garrowstripe, Lethen