FW: Wild bees not honeybees are the UK's main pollinators
Matt Shardlow
From: Simon Geoffrey
Potts [mailto:s.g....@reading.ac.uk]
Sent: 26 May 2011 14:30
To: Simon Geoffrey Potts
Subject: Wild bees not honeybees
are the UK's
main pollinators
Dear All
Please find attached our paper showing the relative contribution of honeybees to UK pollination services. I have also included our press release if you wish to use any quotes. Please feel free to circulate the paper further.
With best wishes
Simon
____________________________________________
Prof. Simon G. Potts,
Centre for Agri-Environmental Research (CAER),
School of Agriculture, Policy and Development,
University of Reading, RG6 6AR, UK.
(RG6 7BE for Sat Nav)
Tel: +44 (0) 118-378-6154
Mobile:
+44 (0) 790-9977-618
Email: s.g....@reading.ac.uk
Web: www.rdg.ac.uk/caer/staff_simon_potts.html
____________________________________________
Matt Shardlow
Dear Amanda
I am not sure that I have encountered anyone actually campaigning against the Honeybee. However, ther promotion of the Honeybee as the sole source of pollination, which is common amongst the Honeybee lobby is increadibly unhealthy as it completely devalues all wild pollinators - this propoganda needs to be countered. There is clearly a debate as to whether the Honeybee was ever native or sustainable in the wild in Britain, there does not seem to be too much evidence and I tend to agree that it can be all rather semantic. However, there are potential conflicts between wild pollinator populations and Honeybees. Clearly there is a restricted and declining resource for all pollinators. Domesticated honeybees are protected over the winter and fed with sugar to help them thrive. Come the spring that are well placed to compete with native pollinators. Just piling more honeybee hives into the countryside will not treat the casue of the problems and will only make the plight of the declining wild pollinators worse. If the public believe that the ideal situation is Honeybee colonies all over the countryside than many flowers and wild pollinators will suffer.
Your concerns about disease and grooming are perfectly legitimate.
Best wishes
Matt
Matt Shardlow
Chief Executive
Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust
First Floor
90 Bridge Street
Peterborough
PE1 1DY
01733 201210
079 21 700151
www.buglife.org.uk
Conserving the small things that run the world.
A year of bugs! This year put a reminder in your diary each month to check out the new Bug of the Month. Go to the Buglife website to find out about a new bug every month!
Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust is a company limited by guarantee, Registered in England at First Floor, 90 Bridge Street, Peterborough, Cambs, PE1 1DY. Company no. 4132695 Registered charity no. 1092293 Scottish charity no. SC040004
-----Original Message-----
From: Amanda Williams [mailto:ama...@mountains56.freeserve.co.uk]
Sent: Fri 27/05/2011 10:01
To: Matt Shardlow; foundations-o...@googlegroups.com; b...@stir.ac.uk
Subject: RE: Wild bees not honeybees are the UK's main pollinators
Thanks Matt
I have been saying this for a few years now. Hobby beekeeping has increased
recently - but which insects were doing the pollinating previously? -
especially given that wild honey bee colonies are rare nowadays.
Pollination by honeybees has been largely determined by locations of
beekeepers. This is a point I make during my talks.
However, I am also quite keen to ensure that honeybees are not seen as the
enemy, or unimportant. There is a wealth of research on honeybees, and
their longer lifecycles, by-products etc, obviously mean that pollutants can
be measured in pollen, and problems (such as those caused by neonicotinoids)
can be seen more quickly than with wild pollinators. Some campaign actively
against honey bees, forgetting that Apis melifera melifera has been in this
country for longer than Bombus hypnorum, for example (and who know what else
has been brought over in the last 50 - 100 years that we assume is native).
But then humans are hypocrites aren't we, bringing over and praising
non-native species when we feel like it, and looking to nature for
scapegoats when we create problems.
I have been focusing my message just lately, on planting, creating
wildflower habitats etc, although I'm still concerned about this issue with
grooming and neonics. Given that many bees nest in soil, I wonder whether
this hampering of the grooming, results in those bees getting viruses,
diseases such as nosema - as is the case with termites (which Bayer admit in
their leaflet), beetles and cockroaches.
Anyway, I'm hoping that with more habitats, the pollinators will flock to
the safe areas, and that we can preserve as many healthy populations as
possible.
All the ebst
Amanda
From: Matt Shardlow [mailto:Matt.S...@Buglife.org.uk]
Sent: 26 May 2011 18:02
To: foundations-o...@googlegroups.com; Amanda Williams;
b...@stir.ac.uk
Subject: FW: Wild bees not honeybees are the UK's main pollinators
_____
Matt Shardlow
That's right! :-)
Not sure if there is much evidence of honeybees being here in roman timea, am aware of a couple of medieval refs.
Cheers
Matt
Matt Shardlow
Chief Executive
Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust
First Floor
90 Bridge Street
Peterborough
PE1 1DY
01733 201210
079 21 700151
www.buglife.org.uk
Conserving the small things that run the world.
A year of bugs! This year put a reminder in your diary each month to check out the new Bug of the Month. Go to the Buglife website to find out about a new bug every month!
Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust is a company limited by guarantee, Registered in England at First Floor, 90 Bridge Street, Peterborough, Cambs, PE1 1DY. Company no. 4132695 Registered charity no. 1092293 Scottish charity no. SC040004
-----Original Message-----
From: Amanda Williams [mailto:ama...@mountains56.freeserve.co.uk]
Sent: Fri 27/05/2011 12:11
To: Matt Shardlow; foundations-o...@googlegroups.com; b...@stir.ac.uk
Subject: RE: Wild bees not honeybees are the UK's main pollinators
Hi Matt
Yes I know. I even wrote a piece that was featured on the Bumblebee Trust
website for some time (not there now) - I think you received a copy of that
email. Here is a clip from it, in which I highlight the dangers of honey
bee focus:
"1. Focus purely on honey bees.
From my perspective, honey bees are important on a number of levels:
chemicals can be measured and monitored quickly in the hive, from wax,
pollen etc. Controlled conditions can be set up and there is a lot of
experience in doing it (e.g. hives can be moved and monitored). They are
one of the species on which scientific assessments of pesticides are based
(and I wish there were no pesticides being assessed in the first place). In
general, I think they are a high profile 'flag waver' for other species,
where, for example, wild species may not be so quickly monitored due to lack
of resources etc. (On a personal level, I also love them, just as I love
the other bees).
The danger, however, is that in the mind of the general population, the
following thought appears (and judging by some of the feedback I get, this
really is the kind of thinking that happens):
"If we sort out honey bees, every things is okay".
And extrapolated further, depending on the individual beliefs or knowledge
of the person, this is another typical thought:
"If we sort out varroa/CCD/tracheal mite etc, everything is fine".
But this is not necessarily the case, and neglects the conservation needs of
other pollinators, including other bees, and a plethora of pollinating
beetles, flies, butterflies, moths etc, that don't get so much as a look in.
Here is an example: a report was released about a new discovery useful for
treating varroa mites. This may be good news, but this will not diminish
the need to help bees etc - it won't help bumblebees and a number of other
important insects, some of which face extinction if they are not helped.
Governments are spending millions on honey bees - I don't object to this, I
applaud it, but I also wish that they would, in tandem, spend millions on
helping our other pollinators and insects (they are spending paltry
amounts), because every insect has a role in the web of life, even if it is
only food for birds."
I also wrote a page about this, specifically dealing with a number of
presumptions I read in a beekeeper's blog, following their criticism of my
support for bumblebees - http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/wild-bees.html - the
arguments used were actual tweets sent to me - including the astonishing and
silly notion that 'bumblebees get more attention because they are cute and
fluffy, and the BBKA need to get their act together and promote honey bees
more' - which is what the beekeeper wrote to me! Elsewhere on my site, I
also mention that increasing numbers of beekeepers will not solve our
problems.
No, I don't mean there is a structured campaign against honey bees, but I
also get notes telling me all honey bees should die out. For me - it was
put on the earth, and has its role. Largely I have come to the conclusion
we have no idea what was brought in and what wasn't. How many things did
the Romans accidentally introduce to the Britain that we assume are native?
It's humans who use and abuse, tamper and upset the balance. This is why
I'm also concerned about the breeding of solitary and bumblebees for
pollination. How long before they start tampering to create 'super fast,
super efficient, with go-faster stripes' bumblebees? It's just a sticking
plaster approach to addressing the problems of intensive agriculture,
development and habitat loss.
Apis melifera melifera as far as I'm aware, is a fairly hardy honey bee
(unlike Apis melifera), more robust and capable of coping with our winters.
Not sure whether it was introduced by the Romans, or the practice of
domesticating them was the introduction.
Amanda