The importance of honeybees - and how to safely evict them from your garden
WITH Spring in the air, Risborough Councillor and local swarm officer Bill Bendyshe-Brown gives the low-down on honeybees- and what to do if they land in your garden.
The importance of honeybees
It is reputed that Einstein wrote that 'If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man'.
It is a fact that honeybees are the only insects that produce food for humans.
So a lot has been written recently about the plight of the honey bee.
Most people do now understand about the multiple crises facing the bee population that continue to empty the hives: foulbrood; varroa mites; viral diseases; dysfunctional immune systems and now the mysterious but globally devastating colony collapse disorder (CCD).
Most people also understand that the true value of the honey bee lies not so much in the sticky stuff that gives our favourite insect its name but in the service it provides as a pollinator of farms and gardens.
If you add retailers' profit to farm gate prices, their value to the UK economy alone is in the region of 1 billion a year, and 35 per cent of our diet is directly dependent on them.
It is an equation of stark simplicity: no pollination, no crops. The reality is that in the US alone, they have lost 70 per cent of their honeybee colonies over the past 2 winters.
In the UK we estimate that well over 30 per cent of our colonies have been lost in the same period – up from 6 per cent in 2003.
Where are Honey Bees found?
Honeybee colonies can be found usually in beehives, or in the wild - with their nest in a cavity in a building or a tree.
Honeybee colonies last several years, and may not attract attention until late spring or early summer.
A strong honeybee colony in favourable weather will have several hundred flights in / out per hour.
Honeybees are usually slender, and orange and brown in colour. Some are almost black.
If the colony becomes too large for its home, then part of the colony with the old queen will form into a large cloud of several thousand bees (called a swarm) and leaves its parent colony to find a new home.
This usually happens on a hot day and bees usually start swarming from May onwards through to July, but it is not unknown that bees sometimes do not follow the rule book and have been known to start swarming in April with one hive swarming as late as end of September last year!
Usually the bees will form into a cluster near their old home while scouts search out somewhere to live.
Except in unusual circumstances these bees are not interested in humans, only in finding a new home, and in collecting pollen and nectar from flowers for food.
As long as you leave them alone, they will not touch you. However if you "flap, or swat " at them as they fly near you they may interpret this as an attack, and defend themselves by attacking you to sting you. Once a honeybee stings it will die.
What if a swarm lands in my garden?
Throughout the country there are beekeeping associations made up of local beekeepers dedicated to the keeping and protection of bees.
Each Association has a dedicated person to contact, called a Swarm Officer.
Mid Bucks is Martin Holman on 07851 392891/ 01296 622972.
High Wycombe is Bill Bendyshe-Brown on 07527 798659.
South Chilton and South Oxon is Michael Sheasby on 01753 642656.
Chalfont is John Catton at Amersham on 01494 726616, Alan Cunningham at Chorley Wood on 01923 284902 and Derek Taylor at Little Chalfont on 01494 763147.
The telephone will stay with the swarm officer at all times.
Each Association has many members wanting a swarm of bees and the swarm officer will contact one of them to turn out usually within 2 hours of being alerted.
If a swarm is found in the fabric of a building beekeepers will not normally attempt to enter to collect it as their insurance does not cover them for this situation.
However, the swarm officer does know several Pest Control Officers who are very bee friendly, and with modest charges, and he will advise them in such a circumstance and ask them to contact you.
They won't destroy bees unless they have to.
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Weather for Aylesbury
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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