No hum

Bags an example recently was when trees were sprayed with this particulars insecticide just as the blossom opened and tens of thousands if honey bees died. This was just sheer stupidity and I don't suppose it was an isolated incident either.

That's interesting, butty. I hadn't heard about that. More research!

aka, that's interesting too. Citation?

jess, indeed! I think I read that the Varroa mite comes from Asia.

We're so clever

Neonicotinoids are systemic insecticides, not contact insecticides, so I wonder if whatever was sprayed on those apple trees was something else, aka?

It could be that they work by contact as well but that's not what I'd understood so far.

Do flowers produce nectar immediately they open or does it take a wee while?

So many questions!

That last question of mine arose in my mind after photographing roses yesterday. Some, all on the same plant, had very 'ripe'-looking pollen; others looked is if they needed a little more time to 'ripen'.

Dug out a botany book. "Bees can distinguish at least three colours in addition to ultraviolet, including the most common perianth shades (yellow and blue). Bees are directed to nectar-producing glands by splashes or lines of contrasting colour."

So the wouldn't go for 'unripe' flowers, would they?

thousands of bees die due to neonicotinoids

and more

the three routes to exposure

Bags you obviously have a very active mind, but that can lead to over-thinking an issue.
Blossom opens, blossom gets sprayed, bees come along, go on blossom, get nasty OD of insecticide, die

Thanks, aka. The UK Parliamentary committee one is especially interesting and seems to suggest that multiple applications of several different insecticides are the biggest problem.

I also found this which points out that there are two kinds of neonicotinoids.

It clearly is a very complex problem.

aka, crossed posts. I don't think it's that simple. Scientific problems rarely are.

The Oregon linden tree incident may have been 'that simple', but I don't think the whole problem is. For all we know those trees were sprayed with the wrong dilution of the insecticide, or at the wrong time.

Yes agree that the issue of colony collapse is very complicated and multiple factors are at work Bags. But the Linden trees is quite a simple cause and effect issue, it doesn't require a degree in toxicology to figure it out. In the words of Albert Einstein 'if it looks like a duck and it quacks, it's probably a duck'!

Oops! Crossed posts again. Time I went to pick some raspberries and make raspberry vinegar

PS overwhelmed by glut of raspberries. No bees around so what on earth is pollinating them?

PPS thanks for that link

Someone on gardeners question time said just a few pollinators can cover a lot of ground in some plants. So maybe your raspberries got the right kind of visitor just at the right moment. There are lots of pollinating insects, some very generalist and some incredibly specific. Bees tend to pollinate short tubed flowers as they have short probosces. Butterflies visit things with deeper tubes etc.

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c0444f/2d420d21/4ac69965/465b7b58/2725735509/VEsD/

Important enough to resurrect this thread.

Just remove my info and put your own in.
I do not seem able to get a blank form on the htread.

Yes, it has come up as blank on my tab, djen. However I will sign later when I can get on the PC.

we have had bumble bees nesting in our eaves but they seem to have dispersed now which I believe they do; I am not sure if the queen will produce more offspring this year.

Already signed - for those wanting more information click here.

Have also put it on the TTIP thread as that appears relevant to this situation.
Wonder who has shares in Syngenta.

I've just put this on the 'Worrying research about pesticides thread', but here's an updated link to 38degrees, who are asking people to sign a 'card' which will be sent to Liz Truss (the newly re-shuffled MP)

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/bees-card

Here is the content of the email that I received today from 38degrees:

"Could today mark the fresh start we desperately need for Britain’s beloved bees? Owen Paterson - the minister responsible for bees - has been given the boot in today’s cabinet reshuffle. He’s been replaced by Conservative MP Liz Truss. [1]

Now Liz Truss has a choice: she could follow Owen Paterson’s lead and champion mega pesticide firms over our bees, or she could decide to protect them. [2]

As she settles into her new role, she’ll hear from lobbyists in the big pesticide firms congratulating her. But together we can make sure the voices of thousands and thousands of us drown theirs out.

So let’s send her a congratulations card, signed by thousands of us, to make sure she knows we want her to protect our precious bees. It’s a bit cheeky but with a hard-hitting message. And signing the card is just as easy as signing a petition. Let’s get thousands of signatures on the card in the first 24 hours of her new job.

Owen Paterson wasn’t a friend of the bees - in fact he put them in huge danger by backing bee-killing pesticides. But if Liz Truss knows that the British public want her to do everything she can to protect bees, she could plough a different furrow.

Our bees don’t have a voice, but that’s where 38 Degrees members come in. Together we have helped fight for their survival. Just a few weeks ago we helped stop a controversial application to allow bee-killer pesticides back on UK fields. And we’ve worked alongside campaigners from across Europe to get these killer pesticides banned. [3]

If bees go - so do we. Can you sign the card to Liz Truss now? The more people who sign, the more impact it will have. Imagine receiving a card signed by thousands of people!"

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/bees-card

The flying ants are early this year - just had a swarm of them take off from our dining-room windowsill...! (outside, of course)

Just seen I bumble, still no honey bees