beekeepers are calling for a requirement on supermarkets and other retailers to label cheap honey imports from China and other nations with the country of origin after claims that part of the global supply is bulked out with sugar syrup. The UK is the world’s biggest importer of Chinese honey, which can be one sixth of the price of the…
In the past 18 months humans have become all too familiar with the term “social distancing”. But it turns out we are not the only ones to give our peers a wide berth when our health may be at risk: research suggests honeybees do it too. Scientists have found that when a hive of honeybees is under threat from the…
Thousands of rare forest honeybees that appear to be the last wild descendants of Britain’s native honeybee population have been discovered in the ancient woodlands of Blenheim Palace. The newly discovered subspecies, or ecotype, of honeybee is smaller, furrier and darker than the honeybees found in managed beehives, and is believed to be related to the indigenous wild honeybees that…
A new subspecies of South African honey bee has been discovered to be comprised of millions of clones from a single individual dating back to 1990. Over the past three decades, a single individual bee has successfully created millions of clones of herself thanks to hitting a bizarre genetic jackpot. This growing army of clones poses a serious risk to…
World Bee Day 2021
UK will no longer use bee-harming pesticide
A delivery of 15 million baby bees to the UK could “be sent back or destroyed” because of post-Brexit laws, the man trying to import them has said. New laws which came into effect after the UK left the single market in January say only queen bees can be imported into Great Britain. However, confusion remains regarding imports from Northern…
Government breaks promise to maintain ban on bee-harming pesticide
