WIREDGOV

A feasibility study into options for restocking honey bee colonies in Scotland is a feature of the Honey Bee Health Strategy, which aims to improve the sustainability and health of honey bee stocks in Scotland.

The needs, preferences and aspirations of the commercial and the amateur beekeeping communities in Scotland were reviewed using survey responses from a high proportion of local beekeeping associations and commercial beekeepers across Scotland.

Summary

The needs, preferences and aspirations of the commercial and the amateur beekeeping communities in Scotland were reviewed using survey responses from a high proportion of local beekeeping associations and commercial beekeepers across Scotland.

The commercial beekeeper community in Scotland reports a wide range of winter loss figures but most have less than 40% and many less than 20% losses in difficult years. Half of the community aspire to increase their stock holdings by more than 25%. The most popular types of bee in this community are largely dark native hybrids, dark native honey bees and Carniolan honey bees. For future restocking this community would like an improved supply of home-grown stocks via trade, assistance with their own efforts and additional resources to help produce their own stocks. Only six of 19 respondents thought that importation of stocks should be encouraged although this is a route which some feel should remain open to ensure future resilience.

Local associations and their members provide around 80% of their local estimated demand for bees. The most popular types of bee in this community were dark native honey bees and their hybrids whereas very mixed hybrids were disfavoured. A minority of amateur beekeepers favour other kinds of honey bee. Most associations thought that assistance with their own effort was the highest priority for future restocking although there was also strong support for regional cooperation and supply. No local association selected importation as a means of improving the supply of bee stocks.

Using meteorological data and criteria from the literature for weather influences on the mating of honey bees, the frequency of opportunities for queen mating was modelled for six sites across Scotland. This suggests that even in poor summers honey bee queens can be mated at lowland sites with reasonable frequency. The criteria for mating have been determined from studies using internationally traded types especially Carniolan honey bees. The modelled data matches local experience in areas with very mixed honey bee stocks. However, from the experience of beekeepers in climatically less advantageous locations, this model appears to seriously underestimate mating opportunities. This gives support to the suggestion that there are locally adapted honey bees.

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