Fifth of UK honeybee colonies died last winter

Nearly a fifth of the UK's honeybee colonies died last winter, figures from the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) revealed today.

The figure is an improvement on the previous year when almost a third of hives did not make it through the winter, but is double "acceptable" levels, the BBKA's president Tim Lovett warned.

Across the country an average of 19.2% of colonies died over winter, with the highest losses in the north of England, where 32.1% perished, and the lowest in the east of England, where just 12.8% did not survive.

According to the BBKA, the period of really cold weather in the winter encouraged the bees to "cluster" together, helping them to survive, while good weather in early spring enabled them to forage for nectar and pollen.

The association also believes beekeepers took more care to feed colonies where necessary to prevent them starving.

But there was still a "worrying and continuing high level of colony loss" which the BBKA put down to diseases threatening the bees.

Lovett said: "The improved figure is very welcome, compared with the 30.5% for winter 2007-2008, but is way short of the 7% to 10% which until the last five years has been considered acceptable.

"It underlines the need for research into the causes and remedies for disease in order to ensure that our principal economic pollinator, the honey bee, can survive the onslaught of the threats it currently faces.

"Also, it still shows that there is a worrying and continuing high level of colony loss which we have to attribute to disease and for which we currently have few answers in terms of husbandry or medication.

He said similar levels of losses in other areas of farming would be considered "disastrous" with dramatic effects on food prices, and answers through research were urgently needed.

"These ongoing losses in the pollination army of honey bees cannot continue if we are to secure food supplies," he warned.

Bees are estimated to be worth around £200m to the UK economy each year, as they pollinate many of the food crops grown here, such as apples and oilseed rape.

But in recent years they have been hit by agricultural changes which have reduced the availability of the wildflowers that are so important in providing food for the insects.

Diseases such as the varroa mite have infected hives, killing the bees, while climate change and pesticide use have also been suggested as possible factors in the insects' decline

A report by the parliamentary accounts committee last month warned the government was giving "little priority" to the health of the nation's bees despite their importance to the agricultural economy.

Honeybee colonies are disappearing at an "alarming" rate and ministers have until recently taken little interest in the problem, the report claimed.

The cross-party public accounts committee wants the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ring-fence research spending on bee health and not allow it to be diluted by looking at other pollinating insects — a call backed by Lovett today.