A real sting operation: Heritage bosses plan to use bee hives to protect ancient buildings from vandals

By NICK ENOCH

The team at Greenfield Valley Heritage Park in Flintshire, North Wales, intend to use hives filled with 'security bees' to scare off would-be vandals

Heritage bosses have unveiled their new weapon in the battle against vandals - swarms of honey bees. Conservation chiefs at Greenfield Valley Heritage Park, in Flintshire, North Wales, are planning the sting operation to deter yobs who repeatedly vandalise their ancient buildings.
The park houses a collection of original and reconstructed local buildings - including mills and factories from the 18th century.
And if the plans are approved, hives will be filled with 'security bees' to scare off the would-be raiders.
Chris Wright, manager of the park, said: 'The idea to use bees seems sensible.

The heritage park houses a collection of original and reconstructed local buildings - including mills and factories from the 18th century

'Vandal attacks have led to the deterioration of many historic buildings and it is difficult to deter people who seem determined to get in there.
'But they may think twice if they know there is a hive inside.'
The park team are planning on hiding the hives in old mill buildings which have been repeatedly attacked.
If disturbed, the swarms of honey bees could attack intruders, using their vicious sting to drive them from the heritage site.

If disturbed, the swarms of honey bees could attack intruders, using their vicious sting to drive them from the heritage site (file photo)

The idea has been tabled by members of the Greenfield Valley Trust but they will have to see if it is approved by health and safety chiefs.
Barbara Chick, publicity officer for the Welsh Beekeepers' Association, said: 'I haven't heard of them being used as security bees.
'They could be a deterrent but there may be health and safety issue if someone is stung, so I don't agree to their use as a security measure.'

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The bee’s knees? Chinese contestants cover themselves in insects for ‘bee bearding’ competition

By BY DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Daredevil: Beekeeper Wang Dalin, 42, stands with bees covering his body on a weighing scale during a 'bee-bearding' competition.


Chinese farmer Wang Dalin will certainly 'bee' happy after winning this incredible competition.

The 42-year-old beekeeper was competing in a daring 'bee bearding' contest in Shaoyang, Hunan Province of China, against 20-year-old farmer Lv Kongjiang.

The pair competed by standing on a scale wearing only a pair of shorts.

They then used queen bees to attract other bees onto their bodies.

Fearless: Wang Dalin shortly before the bees completely covered his body


Mr Dalin was crowned the winner after attracting 26.86kg of bees onto his body in 60 minutes, according to local newspaper reports.

Mr Kongjiang managed to attract a slightly lower 22.9 kg.


Second place: Lv Kongjiang waves at onlookers watching the 'bee bearding' contest


The event attracted a large crowd of fascinated onlookers.

However, unlike the competitors, many of them took the more sensible option of wearing protective clothing.


Support: Crowds watch as bees cover Wang Dalin

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S'warm in 'ere! Staff trapped in chocolate shop for almost THREE HOURS after thousands of angry bees threaten to invade store

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Help! Terrified staff at Thorntons were trapped for nearly three hours after they were attacked by this swarm of bees


This is the incredible moment terrified staff at Thorntons chocolate shop were trapped for nearly three hours after they were literally bee-sieged - by a buzzing swarm.

The sweet store was forced to close for two-and-a-half hours after thousands of bees swarmed around the queen in its doorway.

Staff at the shop in Leominster, Herefordshire, said it was like something from a horror film as they watched an angry cloud of black and yellow coming at them.


Buzz off: The bees are believed to have swarmed the shop to protect a queen bee which had been ousted from a nearby nest


They were forced to hide inside the shop, barricading the door with chocolate boxes, while a beekeeper was called.

Shop assistant Kim Kinsey said: 'I thought they had been attracted to the shop by the sweet smell of the chocolate, but the beekeeper explained they follow the queen.'

The bees are believed to have swarmed the shop to protect a queen bee which had been ousted from a nearby nest by a younger female.

They were eventually removed by a beekeeper after tourist information centre manager Gill Ding raised the alarm.

Ms Ding, 45, said: 'Nobody seems to know where they came from but it was probably from a large hive. It was quite alarming.




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Bike thieves bee careful! Cycle is swarming with the insects

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Buzz off! A swarm of summer bees surrounded this bike which was parked in London's Notting Hill


At this time of year, you're more likely to see bees being attracted to flowers than anything else.

Which means passers-by must have been surprised to see literally hundreds of the insects clinging on to this bicycle stand in West London.

The stand, in Notting Hill, was literally covered in summer bees - and although it is unclear what attracted them there in the first place, the swarms just kept on coming.


Swaming: It is unclear what attacted the bees to the bike - but the hot weather has brought them out in large numbers


All of which could have made things very tricky for the owner when it came to collecting their bike.

But as the warm weather continues to bring insects out in large numbers, it seems that London is not the only place to have seen high levels of bee activity in recent days.

Swarms of bees in other parts of the country, have been keeping experts busy - particularly in Gloucestershire, which has seen an unusual amount of bee activity.


Bee-ware: Swarms of bees like the one in Notting Hill have been spotted all over the country in the run-up to summer


Mike Forster and his wife Carol, leading members of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Bee Keeping Association, told local press they were called out to move five swarms in just one day last Friday.

Mr Forster said the unseasonally warm and sunny weather of the last few weeks followed by storms may by the reason for the high level of bee activity.

Other insects who have benefitted from the warm spell include butterflies, who are reportedly thriving in the warm sunshine, and ants.

The latter, encouraged by the warm Mediterranean spring weather, have descended on homes across Britain in search of food and water. Wildlife experts say the cold winter has also boosted ant populations.



Enjoying the sun: The warm weather has reportedly given rise to unusual levels of bee activity

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New pesticides are 'killing honeybee population worldwide'

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE

Dying? Honeybees are being wiped out by new pesticides that have left them far more vulnerable to disease, the top U.S. bee expert has warned


A new generation of pesticides could be to blame for Britain's vanishing honeybees, a study has shown.

The chemicals, which are routinely used on farms and garden centres, attack the central systems of insects and make bee colonies more vulnerable to disease and pests, researchers say.

The claims, which appear in an unpublished study carried out at the US Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory, add to the evidence that pesticides are partly responsible for the mysterious decline of one of the world's best loved insects.

Wildlife campaigners today called for urgent research into the links between the chemicals and the collapse of bee colonies around the world.

Scientists are baffled by Britain's disappearing honeybees. Since the 1980s numbers have fallen by half.

The new study, led by Dr Jeffrey Pettis, one of the U.S.'s top bee experts, found that exposure to a class of pesticides called neo-nicotinoids makes bees more susceptible to infection - even at doses too low to be detected in the creature's bodies.

Neo-nicotinoids, which were introduced in the 1990s, are applied to seeds and are found in low levels throughout a growing plant - including in its pollen and nectar.

They were introduced to replace controversial organo phosphates because they appeared to be harmless to mammals and people and are used on oil seed rape, wheat, sugar bed and garden centre plants.

The U.S. research has yet to be published, but is discussed in a new documentary film The Strange Disappearance of The Bees.


Neo-nicotine insecticides attack the central nervous system and are absorbed by every part of plants that are treated with them. Bees and other pollinating insects can absorb them and carry them back to their hives or nests


Insect charity Buglife today said previous studies in France had found a link between pesticides and vanishing bees.

Director Matt Shardlow said: 'This American study shows that even at levels where you can no longer detect the substance in bees, it is still having an impact on their health.

'People have been wondering what is the cause of the decline of bees and moths and bumblebees in Britain. And the research is further evidence that pesticides are a potential cause.'

The Co-op is so concerned about neo-nicotinoids it has banned them on its UK farms.
Bayer - the German chemical giant that makes many of the neo-nicotinoids used in Europe - insisted its products did not harm bees.

A spokesman said it was difficult to comment on unpublished studies and that it was impossible to look at the methods used by the researchers.

'I'm sure there are some very interesting effects Dr Pettis has seen in a laboratory, but in reality, when you get to what's important to everybody which is what happens in the field, you don't see these things happening,' he said.

'Bees are very ,very important insects to BayerCropScience and we recognise their importance.'

Honey bees are essential for British farmers and are thought to contribute around £200million to the economy by pollinating crops on farms, allotments and in gardens.


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Scientists launch fightback against mite that is wiping out our bees... by making it self-destruct

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE

A honeybee with a Varroa mite (circled) attached to it. Conservation groups are welcoming a breakthrough in the battle against the deadly mite responsible for decimating the honeybee population


For 20 years it has ruthlessly attacked Britain's hives - wiping out millions of bees and bringing misery to honey producers.

But now scientists have launched the fightback against the invasive, blood sucking varroa mite parasite - the world's biggest killer of bees.

The bug drills a hole in the honey bee's back and drinks its blood while injecting viruses to suppress the bee's immune system leaving it vulnerable to disease.

Attempts tried to wipe it out but they failed as it becomes increasingly resistant to chemicals.

Now researchers have developed a new technique that turns off genes in the pest's DNA, forcing the bugs to self-destruct.

Although the treatment is still experimental, it could eventually kill the mites without harming bees within years.


The breakthrough won't come soon enough for Britain's beleaguered honey bees - in England alone the population has shrunk by 54 per cent since the 1980s as a result of the varroa mite, pesticides, industrial farming and disease.

Farmers say the decline could be disastrous for agriculture because bees are vital for pollinating crops and are worth an estimated £200 million to farming each year.



A varrao mite. The tiny creatures infect bees with viruses suppressing their immune system


The new treatment would allow beekeepers to treat the parasites without harming the bees. Currently they have to use pesticides.

Prof Francis Ratnieks, a bee researcher from the University of Sussex, said it could be a long time before it was used on British bees.

'It may be possible to use gene knockout techniques such as RNAi to learn more about the physiology of pests and to use this to develop ways of controlling them, maybe by the development and application of novel pesticides,' he told the BBC.


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Why bees that are too tired make mistakes with their 'waggledance'

Worker bees need sleep to be able to perform their waggle dance accurately


Just like tired and stressed humans, busy bees that get too little rest start to make mistakes, scientists have found.

Worker bees have the important job of letting their hive-mates know where to find food.

They pass on the information by performing a 'waggle dance' containing coded directions to nectar-rich flowers.

But when the insects were deprived of sleep their ability to communicate clearly began to suffer.

Their dances became sloppier and less precise than those of rested bees.

Dr Barrett Klein, from the University of Austin, Texas, US, said: 'When deprived of sleep, humans typically experience a diminished ability to perform a variety of tasks, including communicating as clearly or as precisely.

'We found that sleep-deprived honey bees also experienced communication problems. They advertised the direction to a food site less precisely to their fellow bees.'
The research involved disturbing sleeping bees with a magnetic device aptly named the 'insominator' by the scientists.

As the magnet was waved over bees fitted with small metallic backpacks it caused them to be jostled around and woken up.

After a sleepless night, the behaviour of the bleary-eyed insects' was compared with that of rested bees.

Fatigue was found to have a noticeable effect on the quality of their waggle dances.
'The dance was not necessarily wrong, but it was less precise than dances performed by bees that were not sleep-deprived,' said Dr Klein.

'We expect that a less precise dance would lead to fewer followers making it to the food source, and we hope to test this in the future.'

The research is reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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We're the bees' knees! Staff at China bee farm are covered in thousands of insects as part of show

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Making a bee-line: Yang Chuanquan, chairman of the Nanning Quanjian Bee Farm, waves to the crowd as the swarm of bees buzzes around him


This looks like it could have more than one sting in the tail as two staff at a China bee farm put on a show.

Yang Chuanquan, the chairman of the board at Nanning Quanjian Bee Farm, is pictured with a colleague covered head to toe in honey bees.

The smiling pair seem unperturbed by their buzzing buddies as they performed in Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Tens of thousands of the bees were poured on to the pair by other staff apart from a small opening over their faces.

It is unclear whether bits of honeycomb or nectar was used to entice the little insects to remain on the two workers, but they are not believed to have been stung.


Creating a buzz: The two members of staff smile for the camera as the industrious insects cover their entire bodies


Attraction: The bees were 'poured' on to the two people by other staff, but is is unclear if they had honeycomb or nectar to entice the insects to stay


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Bees' tiny brains able to beat computers at complex mathematical problems

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Bees are able to calculate the shortest distance to a number of different flowers


Bees can solve complex mathematical problems which keep computers busy for days, research has shown.

The tiny insects learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers discovered in random order.

Effectively, they are capable of solving the 'travelling salesman problem' - unlike any other animal known besides humans, say scientists.

The classic conundrum involves finding the shortest route that allows a travelling salesman to call at all the locations he has to visit.

Computers solve the problem by comparing the length of all possible routes and choosing the one that is shortest.

Bees manage to reach the same solution using a brain the size of a grass seed.
Dr Nigel Raine, from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, said: 'Foraging bees solve travelling salesman problems every day. They visit flowers at multiple locations and, because bees use lots of energy to fly, they find a route which keeps flying to a minimum.'

Dr Raine's team used computer-controlled artificial flowers to test bee behaviour.
The researchers wanted to know whether bees would follow a simple route defined by the order in which they found the flowers, or look for the shortest route.

After exploring the location of the flowers, bees quickly learned to fly the best route for saving time and energy.

The research, due to appear this week in the journal The American Naturalist, has implications for the human world.

Modern living depends on networks such as traffic flows, internet information, and business supply chains.

Learning how bees solve the travelling salesman problem with such a tiny brain may lead to simple ways of managing these everyday connections.

'Despite their tiny brains bees are capable of extraordinary feats of behaviour,' said Dr Raine. 'We need to understand how they can solve the travelling salesman problem without a computer. What short cuts do they use?'


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Even bees lose their memory: Older honey bees 'find it hard to remember where a new hive is located'

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


Older bees find it hard to adjust to new hive locations, a new study has found


It is not just humans that get stuck in their ways.

For scientists have discovered that old bees have trouble finding their way to new hives as their learning behaviour becomes increasingly inflexible.

Researchers from Arizona State University and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences examined how ageing impacts the ability of honey bees to find their way home.

Bees are typically impressive navigators, able to wend their way home through complex landscapes after visits to flowers far removed from their nests.

But the study reveals that aging impairs the bees' ability to extinguish the memory of an unsuitable nest site even after the colony has settled in a new home.

'From previous studies, we knew that old bees are characterised by poor learning when trained to floral odours in the laboratory,' says Gro Amdam, an associate professor in the School of Life Sciences in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

'So, we wanted to test whether aging also affects learning behavior that is important for a bee's survival in the wild.'

A bee is very well-trained as a forager after three to four days of flight time. Mature bees have piloted their way to and from the hive for five to 11 days and old bees have had more than two weeks of flight time.

To test how old bees adapt to a changed home location, researchers trained bees to a new nest box while their former nest was closed off.

Groups composed of mature and old bees were given several days in which to learn the new home location and to extinguish the bees' memory of their unusable former nest box.

The scientists then disassembled the bees' new home and forced groups of mixed-age bees to choose between three alternative nest locations, including the former nest box.

Old bees began flying toward the former nest site, despite the experience that should have told them that it was unusable.

'Although many old bees fail in learning tasks, we also discovered that a few still perform with excellence,' explains Daniel M|nch, lead author of the study and a senior life sciences researcher in Norway.

The scientists believe that their findings with bees offer a new means to model and understand the variability found in brain function between individuals; where some individuals' memories remain intact, while others' learning behavior becomes inflexible with age.


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Honeytrapped! Policeman needs 'Swat' team after he's trapped in patrol car by 50,000 bees

By Mail Foreign Service

'Bee' careful: The expert beekeeper carefully calms the bees down and removes them from the car with Deputy Jenkins trapped inside


Talk about a 'sting' operation.

A U.S. policeman was forced to hide out in his patrol car for three hours after he was surrounded by 50,000 angry bees.

The insects had escaped from a crashed lorry on a highway in North Carolina yesterday morning.

When Sheriff's deputy Brandon Jenkins was called to the scene, he was horrified to find that its cargo had been 60 boxes of honey bees.


*** Scroll down for video ***


His visit was ill-timed - he showed up just after the sun had risen and roused the sleeping insects from their night's rest.

They promptly swarmed his car, forcing him to leap inside and radio for help.

Tens of thousands of the tiny creatures covered the vehicle as he waited for beekeeping experts to be tracked down by the police.

The beekeepers eventually managed to calm the bees down using smoke - but not before Jenkins had to kill a few bees who found their way into the car.

'It was more or less self-defense. There were a couple of bees in my personal space, my comfort zone, and I just wanted to get them out,' he explained.



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Tastier honey from bees who enjoy the buzz of the big city

By Fiona Macrae

Thriving in the city: A bumble bee hunts for nectar in a poppy flower in a Birmingham garden


We associate them with wildflower meadows, rolling fields and vibrant hedgerows.
But Britain's bees are happiest in the concrete jungle, experts claim.

Honey bees in towns and cities are thriving more than those in the countryside, due to the wide variety of trees and plants in suburban gardens, a National Trust study suggests.

And their urban existence may even lead to a tastier result as bees feeding on lime trees, common in suburban gardens, produce a more fragrant honey than the rock-hard variety that comes from the oil seed rape in the countryside.

It is also thought that bees buzzing around intensively-farmed fields may be falling foul of low-quality pollen and pesticides.

Matthew Oates, the charity's adviser on nature conservation, said: 'These are very early findings, but nonetheless, they are distinctly interesting

Researchers from the University of Worcester analysed pollen samples from ten National Trust beehives to see which flowers the bees were feeding on and whether there was a link between the pollen and the health of the insects.

At Kensington Palace in London, the samples contained large amounts of pollen from rock rose, eucalyptus and elderberry.

Hives at suburban sites, such as the university campus, benefited from pollen from lily, blackberry and rowan trees. These samples also contained some evidence of oilseed rape.

In contrast, some of the rural hives, including those at Nostell Priory in Yorkshire and Barrington Court in Somerset, contained samples that were heavily dominated by oilseed rape, with few other pollen types detectable.

There are fears that the pesticides used to spray oilseed rape and some other commercial crops are harmful to bees.

It is thought that the cocktail of chemicals disrupts the nervous systems of young bees, making them more vulnerable to disease and destroying their ability to find food and pass on the location of flowers to colony mates.

Pesticides, climate change and disease are being blamed for plummeting populations of bees and other insects.

The number of honey bees has halved since the 1980s and three of Britain's 25 bumblebee species have become extinct.

Insects contribute £440million to the British economy every year by fertilising crops, and if the numbers continue to decline, the country's farms could face a crisis, experts have warned.

Mr Oates added: 'Apart from crops such as oilseed rape and field beans, there are precious few pollen sources around for bees and other insects in modern arable farmland, and surprisingly little in areas specialising in dairy, beef or sheep production.'

Gardeners keen to do their bit should plant wildlife-friendly flowers such as sunflowers and buddleia.

Lime trees are also particularly popular with honey bees. Dry, sunny banks and warm patches of bare earth in lawns and borders are attractive to bees and some like burrowing under piles of stones.



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A stinging competition as contestants fight it out to win best Bee Beard

By Daily Mail Reporter

Top contender: Tibor Szabo of Guelph, Ontario has his head completely covered with honey bees, at the Clovermead Bees & Honey, Bee Beard Competition in Aylmer, Ontario, Canada


It is a competition not for the fainthearted, but several brave Canadians rose to the challenge at the Clovermead Bees & Honey, Bee Beard Competition in Ontario yesterday.

It was a case of who dares wins as the contestants bravely wore thousands of honey bees on their face and body.

Tibor Szabo was among those who took part and was pictured with his head completely covered with honey bees.


Body armour: Albert de Vries of St. Thomas, Ontario walks while covered with over 5 lbs of honey bees


Bee bonding: Tibor Szabo reaches his arm around fellow competitor Christy Hiemstra of Alymer


Beebearding is thought to date back to the 1700s when an English beekeeper discovered he could create a beard of bees by tying the queen to a thread around his neck and would parade through the streets wearing the unusual costume.

In a recent interview with The Australia Telegraph, professional beekeeper Melanie Kempers explained the beard process.

'Every colony has one queen,' she says. 'They all recognize her by smell. We put her in a small plastic cage and tie it around the neck, and we take the bees from her colony.

'We put them onto newspaper, and then pour them into a pair of hands just below the queen. They smell her and walk up towards her. Once they smell her, they huddle around her, that’s what creates the certain look'


Can you see me? Szabo reaches out towards the crowd, while covered in bees


Bizarre hobby: Beebearding is thought to date back to the 1700s


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These bohemian bees heard that Soho has a real inner-city buzz

By Mail Online Reporter

Buzz stop: A small swarm of honey bees take a break on a lamppost in Wardour Street, Soho - as bemused passersby keep a safe distance


They are known for their role in pollination, producing honey and beeswax - and being a bit annoying at a late-summer picnic.

What they are not known for, however, is leaning on a lamppost in Soho and watching the world go by.

This small swarm of honey bees decided to take a break from their daily chores and relax on a lamppost on the corner Wardour Street and St Anne's Court.

The unusual gathering was spotted by a London resident who goes by the name 'PopeRamone' on Twitter.

He took photos of the phenomenon and posted them on his Twitter page.

Passersby can be seen in the photos looking bemused and slightly concerned. Bees, while non-aggressive insects, pack a nasty sting that can be fatal for people with allergies.

Seeing such a sight in a built-up urban area like Soho would no-doubt add to the unnerving sensation felt by city slickers.

But, before a swarm of curious humans had time to form around the lamppost, the bees set off about their business.


Buzz stop: A small swarm of honey bees take a break on a lamppost in Soho - as bemused passersby keep a safe distance


Close look: One woman gets a little close for comfort as others keep an eye on the unusual phenomenon


There has been an alarming decline recently in populations of both managed bees and wild bees.

In 2007, managed populations of European honey bees experienced a sharp drop in number. This prompted investigations amid concern over the nature and extent of the losses.

In 2009 some reports from the U.S. suggested that a third of honey bee colonies did not survive winter - with the normal loss being around 25 per cent.

The decline of bees, and therefore pollination, would have disastrous effects on agriculture and nature.

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The fundraiser with a sting in its tail... Teenager's raises £400 by creating a beard of bees

By Daily Mail Reporter

Buzzing: Nellie endured the swarm of insects on her face for several minutes


Most teenage girls like to create a buzz with their fashion statements. But Nellie Odam-Wilson went for an accessory with a real sting in its tail.

The 16-year-old modelled a ‘beard’ of bees at Quince Honey Farm in Devon yesterday – achieving her look by placing the Queen Bee on her face and waiting for a swarm to follow.

She escaped without a single sting after the stunt, which raised £400 towards a charity trip to Africa. Nellie, from South Molton in Devon, said: ‘It felt like they were everywhere.’

The £390 she raised from sponsors will help to underwrite her trip to Uganda, where she plans to do voluntary work in an orphanage.

Nellie said: 'It was a bit scary having all the bees on me, but it was worth it because it's for such a good cause.'

The plucky teenager endured a faceful of the buzzing creatures for seven minutes, remaining as quiet and still as possible to avoid being stung


The money Nellie raised will help finance her voluntary work in a Ugandan orphanage


'They were only on me for a matter of minutes but it seemed like much longer. You don't know if one of them will sting you. The bees were all crawling across my face and it was really itchy. But I work at the farm so I knew I was in good hands.'

Farm owner Ian Wallace said it was the first time anyone had managed the feat at the farm without receiving a single sting.


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Bee numbers plummet as billions of colonies die across the world

By Mail Foreign Service

Catastrophic collapse: More than three million colonies in America and billions of bees worldwide have died since 2006


The world faces a future with little meat and no cotton because of a catastrophic collapse in bee colonies, experts have warned.

Many vital crops are dependent on pollination by honeybees, but latest figures show a third failed to survive the winter in the U.S.

More than three million colonies in America and billions of bees worldwide have died since 2006.

Pesticides are believed to be a key cause of a crisis known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CDD), damaging bee health and making them more susceptible to disease.

But scientists do not know for certain and are at a loss how to prevent the disaster. Other potential factors include bloodsucking parasites and infections.

Some experts believe bees are heading for extinction.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the U.S. fell by 34 per cent last winter, according to a survey by the country’s Agricultural Research Service, and some commercial beekeepers have reported losses of more than 60 per cent over a year.

In Britain, the latest report into the fate of the estimated 250,000 honeybee colonies is expected this month after losses of up to a third in the last two winters.

Bees are a critical part of the food chain because flowering plants depend on insects for pollination and the honeybee is the most effective.

It pollinates 90 commercial crops worldwide, including most fruit and vegetables – from apples to carrots – alfalfa for cattle feed, nuts, oil-seed rape and cotton.

A world without honeybees would mean a largely meatless diet of rice and cereals, no cotton for textiles, no orchards or wildflowers and decimation among wild birds and animals in the bee food chain.

Bees are worth £26 billion to the global economy, and £200 million in Britain.
'Bees contribute to global food security and their extinction would represent a terrible biological disaster,' said Bernard Vallat of the World Organisation for Animal Health.

U.S. scientists have found 121 different pesticides in samples of bees, wax and pollen, increasing fears that pesticides are a key problem.

The wipe-out of so many colonies has been dubbed ‘Marie Celeste’ syndrome because many hives have been found empty, with no sign of dead bees.

The British government’s National Bee Unit denies the existence of CDD over here, blaming the bloodsucking varroa mite and rainy summers that have stopped bees foraging for food.


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On its way to Britain: The killer Asian hornet which threatens our native honeybees

By Fiona Macrae

An Asian hornet is seen in a beehive in south western France. The pest has decimated hives in Europe and is on its way to Britain


Giant hornets with a searing sting and a hearty appetite for honeybees are heading for Britain.

The Asian hornet is four times the size of our native honeybees and its sting has been compared to a hot nail being hammered into the body.

It picks on honeybees as they leave their hive until the colony is so exhausted that the hornets can move in and ransack it.


Bees can only kill the super hornets by starving them of oxygen. Experts fear British bees will not be able to develop this defence quickly enough


It is a further problem for the British honeybee, which is struggling to cope with changes in farming and climate and already has one Far Eastern invader to contend with - the varroa mite, which feeds on the bees and makes their hives more vulnerable to disease.

Now the Asian hornet, or Vespa velutina, has been spotted in northern France and experts believe it will head here.

Tim Lovett, of the British Beekeepers' Association, said: 'People are on the lookout for it. It's an unpleasant little critter.'

The hornet is thought to have travelled to France on some Chinese pot plants in2004.

It has colonised huge swathes of the country and, with a few hornets capable of destroying 30,000 bees in a couple of hours, honey production has plummeted.

Groups of Asian hornets hover in front of a beehive, picking off single honeybees, decapitating them and stripping off their wings and legs before making off with the 'meat ball' to feed their young.

The bees are overwhelmed, clearing the path for the hornets to break into the nest and pillage it.


In Asia, honeybees have learned to encircle an intruder and, by flapping their wings, cause it to overheat and die. But the French bees have not had enough time to evolve an effective tactic.

The hornet sting can be extremely painful to humans but, like bee stings, it is likely to kill only if the victim has a severe allergic reaction.

However, the hornets can be pests; several people were attacked in France last summer.


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Found... the honey bees with built-in central heating

By Paul Sims

Scientists have discovered 'heater' bees who keep the hive warm


Scientists have long attributed the success of the honey bee to the division of labour within the hive.

But thermal imaging research for a TV series has identified a previously unknown skill performed by a specialist bee that is vital for a colony's survival.

'Heater bees' use their bodies to provide a 'central heating' system, it has emerged

The 'heaters' are responsible for maintaining the temperature in the hive where young bees, known as pupae, are sealed into wax cells while they grow into adult bees.

By changing the temperature of each pupa they can determine what kind of bee it will become.

Those kept at 35C mature to become the intelligent forager bees that leave the nest in search of nectar and pollen. Those kept at 34C emerge as 'house keepers'.


Horticulturalists reintroduce some 20,000 honeybees into two hives at Kew Gardens


Professor Jürgen Tautz, head of the bee group at Germany's Würzburg University, said the heater bees were vital in determining what job the young bee will perform once it matures.

As a result they are able to ensure that there are always enough bees filling each role within the colony - guaranteeing its success.

'The bees are controlling the environment they live in to make sure they can fill a need within the colony,' said Professor Tautz.

'By carefully regulating the temperature of each pupa, they change the way it develops and the likelihood of the role it will fulfil when it emerges as an adult.'

He added: 'By creeping into empty cells, one heater bee can transmit heat to 70 pupae around them. It is a central heating system for the colony.'

Using new technology the scientists were able to record the temperature within bee hives and discover the fascinating new role of the heater bee.

Until now they cited the division of labour within the hive as the secret of honey bees' success.

But the research shows that without its own unique central heating system - provided by the heater bees - they would be nowhere near as successful.

By controlling the temperature within the hive the heater bees determine the roles performed by the young bees in later life and therefore ensure there is never a shortage of skills.

The findings will be revealed later this month in a new BBC series, Richard Hammond's Invisible World, where technology is used to give a glimpse into previously unseen worlds.

Thermal imaging cameras revealed how individual heater bees warm up the nest to precisely the right temperature.

Depending on the size of the hive there can be just a few inside the nest to several hundred.

Professor Tautz added: 'The old idea was that the pupae in the brood nest were producing the heat and bees moved in there to keep warm, but what we have seen is that there are adult bees who are responsible to maintaining the temperature.

'They decouple their wings so the muscles run at full power without moving the wings and this allows them to raise their body temperature extremely high.

'Their body temperature can reach up to 44 degrees centigrade. In theory they should cook themselves, but somehow they are able to withstand this high temperature.'


source: dailymail

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It's the latest buzz: How owning an urban hive could save Britain's honey bee

By David Derbyshire Environment Editor

Garden guest: People living in towns and cities are being encouraged to keep hives in a bid to save the honey bee


A campaign to save Britain's honey bee by encouraging people in towns and cities to keep bees in their back gardens is launched today.

The Co-operative says urban hives could reverse the worrying decline in bee numbers over the last few decades.

But while some people will welcome the arrival of colonies of honey bees in their streets and suburbs, the spread of urban beekeeping could lead to tensions between neighbours.

Bee numbers have fallen dramatically in Britain over the last few years. In England, the population has shrunk by 54 per cent since the 1980s as a result of pesticides, industrial farming and disease.

Farmers say the decline could be disastrous for agriculture. The insects are vital for pollinating crops and are worth an estimated £200 million to farming each year.

Now the Co-op is launching a campaign to encourage people in towns and cities to take up beekeeping - and put hives in their gardens and on their rooftops.

Last year, it piloted a scheme to train would-be beekeepers on allotments in Manchester. This year, it will roll out the idea to other cities.

Paul Peacock, an amateur beekeeper who is helping to run the project, said people did not need a large garden to keep bees - but conceded they could be a source of neighbourly tension.

However, careful positioning of hives - which can contain 30,000 bees - and sensible beekeeping removed most of the problems.


Living the hive life: Urban beekeeping is becoming increasingly popular


'You can stop them from swarming and landing in your neighbour's garden by artificially swarming them once a year,' he said.

'And if you build a frame around the hive with fences, hedges or a shed, then the bees are forced to fly up 10 feet in the air before they leave the garden, making it unlikely that a neighbour will notice them at head height.'

Urban beekeepers taking part in the scheme will be encouraged to take out insurance, just in case.

Paul Monaghan, head of social goals at the Co-operative, said: 'Nature's number one pollinating machine appears to be breaking down and no one knows for sure why.

'Urban beekeeping is becoming increasingly popular and could be a vital tool in the reverse of honeybee decline in the UK.'

Under the scheme, people can attend a free two-day course on beekeeping - and are provided with free equipment, bees and a plastic "beehaus" hive.

The company is also be giving away hundreds of thousands more packets of wildflower seeds, containing bee favourites such as poppies, cornflowers, white campion and corncockle.

Last year the Government's conservation agency Natural England urged householders in towns and cities to consider keeping bees in their gardens and on rooftops or even balconies to counter declining honeybee populations.

Natural England, also backed the launch of the "beehaus" design of beehive and called on people to support bees - including wild bumblebees - by planting insect-friendly plants in their gardens.

UK beekeeping courses are regularly oversubscribed in the UK. Last year, the British Beekeepers' Association reported a 25 per cent jump in membership to 15,000 people.


source: dailymail

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Mystery of the giant honeycomb built in a wood by thousands of bees in freezing FEBRUARY

Sweet success: The incredible honeycomb built by bees despite the freezing weather at Holly Hill, Fareham, Hampshire


If you go down to these woods today you are sure of a sweet surprise - bees swarming in sub-zero temperatures around a giant honeycomb.

Even Sir David Attenborough would be stumped by the discovery as thousands of bees have constructed the comb in an oak tree at Holly Hill Country Park, Fareham, Hants.

The hardy workers have created the giant two-foot long structure and have been spotted by walkers and winter wildlife spotters more used to seeing deer and badgers at this time of year.

Bees are hibernating creatures that cannot survive in cold temperatures, but the hard-working insects are proving they are made of stronger stuff by braving the big chill.

Bees are known to produce small honeycomb structures in trees during warmer summer months, but the enormous and strangely shaped structure is an unheard sight during January and February.

David Nield, vice chairman of the Hampshire Beekeepers Association, said: 'To see bees working like this during such extreme weather is incredible.

'Wild bees as a species are normally very temperature conscious. They do not normally survive in the cold and would ordinarily be in hibernation waiting for when the weather warms up a bit.


High honey: How the honeycomb is sheltered in the tree

'You only have to think about how often you see bees flying about when the weather is cold to realise how rare this is.'

Experts are struggling to find theories as to why the honeycomb, which is more than a foot high, has appeared, believing climate change could be behind the discovery or a decline in the numbers of wild bees in Britain meaning the insects have to work harder.

Amateur photographer Stephen Leff, who first discovered the enormous hive, added: 'I was just out for a walk with some family and friends on what was a very chilly day, a real winter's day.

'I've seen some interesting fungi growing up trees before and that's what I thought this thing was when it first caught my eye. It was huge.'


source: dailymail

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