Bee decline already having dramatic effect on pollination

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 06 Apr 2012, 20:25

I have a garden full of buzzing as usual. Mostly bumble bees but also plenty of miner bees.

Saw a slow worm whilst digging the beds as well.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 11 Apr 2012, 22:50

The evidence is mounting up

Replacing the pollination of food crops that the UK's bees perform for free would cost £1.8bn. With hard data now linking pesticides to bees' rapid decline, there is no excuse for inaction

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/d ... y-collapse

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 16 May 2012, 12:16

...and up:

http://www.panna.org/blog/ge-corn-sick- ... whats-link

Keeping us all tethered to the pesticide treadmill is expected behavior from the likes of Monsanto. But what boggles the mind is that all of this is being aided and abetted by a USDA that ties cheap crop insurance to planting patented Bt corn, and a Congress that refuses to tie subsidized crop insurance in the Farm Bill to common-sense conservation practices like bio-intensive IPM.

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 23 May 2012, 17:58

FoE - 23/05/12

Pesticide use rose by 6.5% between 2005 and 2010, increasing the risk to bee populations, according to new research launched today by Friends of the Earth.

The report, 'The Decline of England's Bees' was carried out by leading bee experts at the University of Reading as part of the environment charity's latest campaign, The Bee Cause. As well as an overall rise in pesticide use, the report reveals an increase in insecticides that tend to be used on crops pollinated by bees - increasing the risk to them. The report also shows the use of herbicides can destroy important sources of food for bees.

Article continues ...

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 23 May 2012, 22:00

Bear in mind that pesticide use in gardens is many times higher than for the same area of agricultural land, and that's often for non edible plants, but the insects must be killed.

It's not only bees that are important, so are the "pests" which are the start of the food chain.

Edit: "than" inserted.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 24 May 2012, 05:43

And people wonder where our farmland songbirds have gone as well!!

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 24 May 2012, 07:12

Not a song bird, but nevertheless an example of the short sight which pervades, is the partridge. The young live on sawfly larvae. The "pest" is poisoned to save the crop, as damage is easily measured as a loss. The benefit in terms of a meat supply is ignored, and it might gave been a better product than the beef produced by feeding the crop to animals.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 24 May 2012, 18:12

Not to mention the income to the farmer from shooting. Although if it's a tenant farmer the landowner usually retains the rights to shoot so the tenant doesn't give a .....!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 May 2012, 18:33

In my particular neck of the woods there's not been a decline in birds other than greenfinches, which seem to have had a virus.

SleeperService · Post by **SleeperService** » 24 May 2012, 22:32

Just got back from the allotment where our beekeeper has put some hives out. He has only lost one hive and is certain that only moving them after dark reduces stress and helps them survive. The rest of them are enjoying themselves up in the Peaks.

There are a lot more masonary bees around here this year. I wonder what they do differently to their hive bound cousins?

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 26 May 2012, 23:27

Our local bookshop has a swarm of very erudite bees. For some reason the local rag, where I read the story, link can't be reproduced, which is a pity because it is graced with a rather good picture of the bees on the stonework.

York proved it was a honeypot destination for more than just tourists when a huge swarm of bees descended on a city centre building.

The thousands-strong colony of insects gathered on the external wall of the Waterstone’s building, on the corner of Coney Street and High Ousegate, yesterday afternoon.

Passers-by stopped and stared as the honey bees created a buzz on the honeycomb-like brickwork around 12ft above the ground.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 14 Jun 2012, 12:18

Proactive French suspend use of pesticide implicated in bee colony collapse

More here.

Amid massive worldwide concerns about bee colony collaps the French Minister of Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, has announced plans to withdraw its permit for the use of Syngenta’s Cruiser OSR pesticide, which has been widely used throughout France with colza or oilseed rape crops. This follows an article in the journal ‘Science', published at the end of March this year, which found that non fatal exposure of honey bees to the neonicotinoid systemic pesticide, thiamethoxam, causes “high mortality due to homing failure at levels that could put a colony at risk of collapse”.

Great news. Stuff you Syngenta!

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 14 Jun 2012, 13:06

I've got a hive of bumble bees living in my roof. Their entrance point is right outside and above my study frigging window. The little buggers are buzzing out side right now. About fifty of them outside the window. However, I am just going to put up with em. Everyone needs to make a living and we've nicked enough of the bees' real estate as it is.

extractorfan · Post by **extractorfan** » 14 Jun 2012, 13:24

There's a hive of bumble bees in one of our bird boxes and one of erm, ordinary?? bees under my shed. They don't get in my way and don't seem to bother the missus either.

katie · Post by **katie** » 14 Jun 2012, 17:55

It was strange reading this thread today and the comments others have made. When I looked out the kitchen window this morning, there was a wood pigeon sitting on top of my cherry tree - he's usually sitting under it waiting for smaller birds to spill stuff out of the seed feeders hanging on the branches. When I looked down I say that the pigeon had been displaced by a pair of partridges, a pair of ring doves, several tree & hedge sparrows & a blackbird which was running round them like crazy. I live right next to agricultural farmland and the field at the bottom of our garden is inhabited by a herd of cows, so the field is hardly ever sprayed - the farmer comes round & cuts all the stuff down which the cows don't eat. Although we have had a decline in blue-tits & chaffinch over the last few years, the other birds seem to be holding up OK. This afternoon, as I passed my herb bed, there were a couple of bumble bees & four smaller bees happily abiding on the chive flowers. We would normally expect to see the partridges back in our garden later in the year with about ten chicks and hopefully this will continue.

Katie