`Little Roar’ of Britain’s Bees Goes Silent as Colonies Die Off

Alex Morales
Bloomberg
Monday, Aug 4, 2008

John Chapple stands among a hum of honeybees flying in and out of 10 hives in the gardens of Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s London residence by the River Thames. The insects are buzzing. For now.

Eighteen months ago about two-thirds of the 40 hives that Chapple keeps across the capital died off, including all 12 in his own back yard. London’s beekeepers collectively lost half of their colonies in the past two years. During last winter alone, almost a third of hives across the U.K. lost their bees.

“If you give hives a thump, you get a little roar coming back, and I didn’t get any roars,” Chapple, chairman of the London Beekeepers Association, said of the vanishing insects. “Some had bees but the mysterious ones had virtually nothing. Everything had disappeared.”

(Article continues below)

Beekeepers say Britain may harbor Colony Collapse Disorder, an unexplained phenomenon that’s led to the loss of more than 35 percent of U.S. hives this year. The government estimates bee pollination is worth as much as 200 million pounds ($395 million) to agriculture and in April began a public inquiry on improving the health of honeybees, which wraps up this month.

Aside from the loss to crop pollination, a dearth of bees would also jeopardize the U.K.’s honey production, valued at as much as 30 million pounds a year by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

`Toxic Mix’

In the U.S., where the Department of Agriculture estimates bee pollination adds $15 billion to crop values, government researchers are studying whether pesticides, parasites, diseases, or a combination of stresses are responsible for the losses. U.K. bees typically die off because of viruses, unusually damp weather and the varroa mite, a pest found locally since the early 1990s.

“We have all the components here of the American-style disorder in terms of disease,” said Tim Lovett, president of the British Beekeepers’ Association, listing a “toxic mix” of varroa, viruses, and a parasite called nosema. “Probably these sorts of losses haven’t been seen since the early 1900s. There is clearly something taking place over and above the normal vicissitudes of beekeeping.”

Lovett said the onus is on the government to act because it benefits from taxes it wouldn’t receive from agriculture without pollination by honeybees.

The association estimates bee pollination is worth 86 million pounds to apple growing, 25 million pounds to oilseed rape cultivation, and 20 million pounds to raspberry growers, among other crops.

Full article here

• 
• Social bookmarks
• 
• Email this article
• 
• Print this page

Comment Terms Of Use

11 Responses to “`Little Roar’ of Britain’s Bees Goes Silent as Colonies Die Off”

1. gemini Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 7:24 am

   UN-BEE-LEIVABLE.

   SORRY GUYS COULD NOT HELP MYSELF.

2. manbearpig Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am

   A new chemtrail film – Don’t Talk About the Weather – at
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxNeoXkL0mM

3. manbearpig Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am

   Note that the film has 27 parts – I think it was – each lasting from some 4-5 minutes up to roughly 10 minutes…

4. Jen Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am

   I’m so tired of this. Will you people please report on the fact that there is no “CCD” problem with ORGANIC BEE FARMS!!!!!!!! No, it’s CONVENTIONAL bee keeping by idiots who use biotech and pesticides who are having all the losses. It’s called KARMA.

5. Gunny Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

   Jen is that true?

6. Ken D. Webber Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

   It is only the larger genetically modified bees that are dying off. They take longer to be born allowing the mite to gain critical mass in the hive resulting in heavy infestation. The smaller organic bee is NOT affected. What is really going on is FEARMONGERING by big honey producing corporations hoping that politicians will give them grant money for studies… they want a taxpayer bailout for their investment losses. As Jen said, they want YOU, the taxpayer, to pay for their genetically modified sins.

7. fatima Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 6:49 pm

   I’m with Jen on this one. Heres a link to a coast to coast am broadcast about ccd and the lack thereof in organic bee farms, featuring richard c. hoagland. http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=kzid6jVGuCo

8. C.M. Says:
   August 4th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

   Fatima – Richard C. Hoagland LOL!!! He’s the guy who put out the alleged sound science/math on the Face on Mars Theory.

9. gemini Says:
   August 5th, 2008 at 3:40 am

   SEE THIS IS WHY I LIKE READING THE MESSAGE BOARDS
   SOMETIMES I FLAG UP INFITRATERS

   BUT THEN I READ STUFF LIKE

   JEN AND KEN THANK YOU THE BOTH OF YOU

   WHAT YOU SAID I HAVE NOT HEARD ANYWHERE ELSE AND I ALLWAYS HAVE A GOOD GUT FEELING AND MY GUT TELLS ME YOU NOT ONLY KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT BUT THAT YOU’RE RIGHT.

   AGAIN THANK YOU BOTH.

10. zitlight73 Says:
    August 5th, 2008 at 11:11 am

    I guess the smart thing to do is invest in all the food bees pollinate and honey.

11. Mark Says:
    August 5th, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    Now that Astronauts Ed Mitchell and Gordon Cooper have confirmed that UFO’s are real, and also that the military has been covering it all up. Last week senior Nasa official, Clark McClelland, opened up a brand new can of beans!

    McClelland revealed on his website that he saw an 8 to 9 ft tall alien on his monitor that was in the shuttle cargo bay communicating to two astronauts. McClelland also said a UFO was locked in orbit with the shuttle while this event was taking place.

    This information confirms the astounding revelations of prophet Linda Newkirk regarding the extraordinary events of Revelation 12 that she has been going through, that are now about to come to a close.

    You can find the links at;

    http://www.hismailroom.com