Showing posts with label Honey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honey. Show all posts

Saturday 25 July 2020

Chafers and Honeybees in France


The other day a chap on a French Beekeeping Face book group posted a photo of a beetle trying to get into one of his hives.   His initial reaction having “Googled” was that it may have been a Large hive beetle, Oplostomus fuligineus, a species that is found in Africa and although this has not yet been recorded in France we can’t be sure where anything is going to turn up these days. New non native species seem to arrive on almost a weekly basis in France and the Small hive beetle, Aethina tumida, another non native, has been found in Italy but as of this moment hasn’t reached France.

Anyway it was clearly a Chafer, that much was indisputable but not a Large hive beetle. I was sure, (ha,ha,ha), at first that it was dark Rose Chafer beetle due to its general appearance and size, (close to 2cm). However I couldn’t find any evidence of Rose Chafers trying to enter hives and although they are plentiful at our place, (Rose chafers and hives), I have never seen them on my hives so I started to deepen my search for any examples of this. After much searching and changing search terms I finally came up with some examples of where peoples hives had been invaded by chafers, but not Rose Chafers but Protaetia morio known as la Cétoine noire. In many ways they look like dark Rose chafers, they are 1.3 to 2 cm long, the dorsal surface is dull, blackish to brownish with small ochre spots more or less marked, or even absent, on the pronotum and aligned transversely on the elytra. Although the greatest populations are to be found in the Mediterranean zone they are present to some extent in almost all other regions of France. Other than the fact that they are attracted to honey their behaviour and life cycle is much the same as the Rose chafer, feeding on thistles, knapweeds etc with larval development in rotting wood and fibrous soil.  

Click on images to enlarge


It seems that the observations of them entering honey bee colonies take place in July and August and if the beetles are numerous they can cause severe disruption for the bees which can’t eject them as the beetles bodies and wing cases are too hard for a bee sting to penetrate. In the case of a hive it should be a simple case of using a hornet guard to keep them out but we can assume that they have developed this behaviour over thousands of years by entering natural colonies in trees.







Chris

Wednesday 16 July 2014

Crickets and a few selected photos and other oddments from June / July

A small selection of bits and pieces from the last few weeks with a few photos some of which I’m quite pleased with especially the Libelloides longicornis which I've waited years for, massive thanks to Samuel Ducept of Vienne Nature for making his hand available. 


Click on pictures to enlarge.


Libelloides longicornis is found in South west Europe and frequents sunny open habitats where they hunt flies and other small insects by patrolling at a height of about 2 to 3 metres.


Now a word in your ear about being a bit careful when translating French names to English for creatures which isn't always that simple especially when the dictionaries have it wrong in some cases. A classic example is the French word Sauterelle which will translate to Grasshopper in most major dictionaries when in fact it should translate to Bush cricket.

This may help to avoid confusion.

Sauterelle = Bush cricket – long antennae
Criquet = Grass hopper – short antennae
Grillon = Cricket – long antennae apart from the Mole cricket, Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa which has short antennae.

I’ve seen five different Crickets seen in the last month to share here including a juvenile Mole Cricket discovered under a large stone by a lake. Turning rocks and stones will often produce interesting results exposing creatures that are taking shelter.
  
Some people get confused and think that the Field Cricket is the Mole Cricket because the male Field Cricket uses an angled hole in the ground to hide in and try to attract females to it, however the Mole Cricket actually spends most of its life underground where it tunnels with its powerful front legs that are adapted in a similar fashion to a mole. In this photo they are tucked in by its head.

Mole Cricket – Courtilière - Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa.  Wet or moisture retentive fields and meadows, edges of ponds, lakes, rivers and similar water courses. Up to 5cm


Grillon bordelais (Tartarogryllus burdigalensis) Bordeaux Cricket. Open grassy scrub, cultivated fields and similar habitats. Up to 1.5cm


Grillon des bois (Nemobius sylvestris) Wood Cricket. In all types of woodland and bordering scrub and grassland. Up to 1.25cm


Grillon des marais (Pteronemobius Heydenii) Marsh Cricket.  Along the edges of and in close proximity to lakes, ponds, rivers and similar water courses. Very small Cricket no more than 1cm.


Grillon champêtre (Gryllus campestris) Field Cricket. Almost anywhere but especially different types of grassland. Up to 2.75cm





Moving on to another interesting species that I was shown, a small group of Martagon Lilies in some ancient woodland near to Lussac les Chateaux in Vienne. Although this isn’t a rare species in France they are normally found in mountainous regions, Alpes, Pyrenees, Jura and the Massif Central but here hidden away in these woodlands are some very small pockets following the retreat of the last glaciation.  Remarkably, (or maybe not), they had Scarlet Lily beetles, Lilioceris lilii, on them and had presumably been existing together for many years.



Three butterflies that might be of interest for UK residents as they aren't to be found there. Otherwise it’s been a very poor year for butterflies around here so far other than for the commonest of species and very few of some of them. On the bright side there has been an apparent increase in the number of Small Tortoiseshells, Aglais urticae, a species that has become rare in the region in recent years. I saw four individuals earlier this year here!

Mallow skipper Carcharodus alceae (L'Hespérie).


Weavers fritillary  Clossiana dia (La Petite violette)


 Ilex hairstreak  Satyrium ilicis (Le Thécla de l'yeuse)
  


On the bee front it’s been mixed to say the least of it. The Sweet Chestnut started to flower and for a few days it was hot and the bees were working hard, then as in recent years it took a turn for the worse with cold and rain on and off finally culminating in half the trees with spoiled flowers before they even opened. The first of the Sunflowers started to open about a week ago and right now it’s hot and sunny – I hope it lasts, the next four or five weeks will determine the honey yield.

Had a call to a small colony the other week that was built behind shutters in a doorway which took about 30 minutes to remove and put in a ruchette, I wish they were all that simple and then yesterday I had a really, really small swarm in my apiary which I’ve popped in a Warré and today they appear to be behaving like bees with a purpose! If they do have a Queen they will need some syrup to get them anywhere near strength for winter.


Earthnut pea, Lathyrus tuberosus, is an amazing and little known plant, a real all rounder being very attractive with a super perfume and importantly honey bees love it  A perennial that once introduced and established will form dense clumps and can be used to climb fences or through bushes.
  


I can’t help but admire, if that’s the right word, how the Crab Spiders have developed over time with their hosts, the plants and their flowers and their prey which visits the flowers, mainly it seems to be bees, butterflies and hoverflies that succumb to their fangs.


Crab spider Synema-globosum with a honey-bee and  Milichiidae, Jackel or Freeloader flies.




Off to check the bees now,
Chris

Saturday 7 June 2014

Honey bee populations in France – some facts and figures

It’s very difficult to get accurate information or an accurate perspective when it comes to the subject of Honey bee populations and this is for a number of reasons that are mostly obvious for anyone that is willing to take a dispassionate view or at least try.


The reason a dispassionate view is required is due to the simple fact that almost everyone involved with honey bees has an agenda, no doubt I have as well but I’ll try to stick to the facts in so far as they can be separated from the modern day myths that are taking over the world and try to be clear when I am speculating or perhaps expressing an opinion.

I find it quite extraordinary in this age of science and technology that far from diminishing the number of myths fed by disingenuous or downright stupid information sources is actually increasing at an alarming rate and the subject of honey bees has now become a gathering place for all manner of people to climb aboard without any real clue about the subject matter and who probably don’t know a honey bee from a hoverfly. Then there is the not so small matter of the gravy train that has been generated with so many people that have their employment dependent on there being problems with honey bees. Huge sums of money are sloshing around from all manner of sources with some of that coming from the pesticide industry. Even Avaaz an online petition provider is asking for donations to fund “an independent research program into what is killing our bees” but when you look you can see it’s anything but impartial and certainly not accurate. Put all of this together and the stage is set for a Whitehall farce of epic proportions with all manner of scams and vested interests at every turn.

From the outset when trying to assess the number of managed colonies in France we need to be realistic and accept that all we can hope for are approximate numbers as will become clear. This is in part due to how hives are registered here.

Before the 1st of January 2010 a person could have up to 10 populated bee hives without any registration or formalities what so ever.

From the 1st of January 2010 with a view to better monitoring of bee populations it became a requirement to register all populated bee hives and their locations starting with the first colony.

Fiscally with up to 40 hives a person pays no social charges, (these are normally around 28% of income in agriculture), although you do have to declare the number of your hives with your tax return and some tax offices may charge an annual tax per hive, normally a few Euro for each hive per annum.

From 40 to 200 hives you are required to pay what is called MSA solidarity which is a reduced charge that provides no benefits such as pension contributions. It is assumed that people with this number of hives either have another income source or benefit from free healthcare.

Over 200 hives and you are treated as a full business and pay full charges via MSA which is the collector of contributions for health, pension and other State charges for people involved in agriculture which includes apiculture.

With human nature being what it is the system encourages keepers to keep their numbers of colonies restricted or perhaps even to under declare. In fact it is generally assumed by the inspectors I have met that as many as  50% of the hives in France aren’t declared and there are undoubtedly a number of people with less than 10 hives in rural areas that don’t even know that they should be declaring them now. All the studies that are available for the number of keepers, number of hives and production of honey per hive annually are in fact no more than broad estimations.

With all this in mind we need to look at the last 35 years partly because this is the period where we have the best records and it is also because this period has seen the most changes for Honey bees in France. Needless to say it’s complex with a number of important overlapping events and changes with little if any statistics until the early 90’s.

Basic figures.

Estimates put the number of beekeepers owning at least one hive in 2010 at 41,836 as opposed to 69,237 in 2004 and 84,214 in 1994 an overall decline of 50% in keepers; however the number of hives has only declined by 21% from 1,351,991 in 1994 to 1,074,218 in 2010. There has been a greater reduction in actual honey production of 28% due to reduced yields.

A third of all French bee keepers are over 61 years old with the majority of the remainder being more than 40 years old, rarely do young people choose the activity. Most people involved in apiculture in France have another income source that is often but not always in agriculture.

There are several possible reasons why the number of people keeping bees has fallen in recent years and we only have to look at the age groups above to realise it’s not something that younger people are flocking to anymore and this applies to agriculture in general.

It’s labour intensive and far from the easiest way to earn a living or even gain a supplementary income in the modern world and faces stiff competition from countries that can produce at a lower price especially since the Single European Market and the opening up of the Eastern European Countries plus the Countries that made up the former Yugoslavia.

The arrival of the Varroa mite in 1982 initially had some impact on increased colony failures which was in part compounded by over zealous use of pesticides and other substances in hives to control them.

Gaucho, (Imidaclopride), a Neonicotinoid, was introduced agriculturally as a seed treatment in 1992 mainly for Sunflowers and Maize and along with other Neonicotinoids in use since then have been widely thought to negatively impact honey bees, (currently banned in the EU since 2013 and not used with crops this year 2014).

Glyphosate, (often known by the trade name Roundup), a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill plants has also become the number one herbicide in both agriculture, communal areas and domestic gardens during this period. It also contains substantial added substances dependant on required use such as Surfactants which are compounds that lower the surface tension (or interfacial tension) between two liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants. Regardless of any toxic effects these may have it’s clear that they have and are playing a major role in changing the nature of the habitat with a massive reduction in native plant species.

Throughout this same period we have seen the greatest change in crops and habitat ever with hundreds of thousands of kilometres of hedgerow and vast hectarages of heath-land and hay meadow removed to make way for larger and larger fields of Maize, Oil Seed Rape and other cereals. There has also been an intensification of the way that Honey bees are exploited such as to supply the luxury market with products such as Royal Jelly and pollen or the transportation of colonies from crop to crop to provide pollination for monoculture in the broad sense with some 60,000 hives being hired out and transported simply for pollination purposes each year. Transporting populated hives also takes on an increasing scale to produce more single nectar honeys that can be sold at higher prices. Overall there has been what I would call a trend towards industrialisation of honey bees in much the same way as we have and continue to industrialise and exploit our food production.

Additionally there has been a large increase in the number of honey bees imported either as Queens, packages or on frames with a corresponding loss of native bees. Any or all of these may be damaging to colony survival, Queen Longevity or honey yields although as the INRA studies have shown untreated and unmanaged honey bee colonies with local bees survive on average for about seven and half years.

Interestingly Organic apiaries more than doubled in the period 2004 – 2010 from 144 to 360 with 69,495 hives but some of these will use permitted treatments in their hives. Only 2.6% of French Beekeepers are known to use no treatments at all in their hives including the so called natural treatments.

Permitted treatments in France are:

TAU-FLUVALINATE

THYMOL


I realise this is a bit lengthy but I’ve tried to keep it as short as possible whist at the same time highlighting the main features and facts and as it stands much more could have been included. We also mustn’t loose sight of the fact that it’s completely natural for bee colonies to fail at a rate that would more or less match their creation. Needless to say this is not a straight line and losses will vary from year to year as it does with other species.

Some other links which may be useful:

Thursday 3 April 2014

Honey bees and Oil seed rape

With the spring well and truly advanced and the Oil seed rape, (Colza), flowering in the fields locally I finally managed to get the last of the “honey supers” on yesterday and breathed a sigh of relief - just in time, always at the last minute.


Once the temperature exceeds about 15 – 16°C Oil seed rape produces sufficient nectar to create what bee keepers call “a flow” and at this point Honey bees will go totally crazy for it and will travel past all the other sources of nectar such as plum, cherry, apple and blackthorn to reach it, sometimes by several kilometres.

The introduction of spring flowering rape has been one of the major changes both in the French countryside and for honey bees in the last 20 / 25 years with production in 1985 of 1.4 million tons, 1995 of 2.8 million tons, 2005 of 4.5 million tons and 5.5 million tons in 2012.  The change is so great in the areas where it is grown that it has completely altered the behaviour of bees in spring and weather conditions permitting can provide a yield of 10 to 20 kg of rape honey per hive by the end of April and may also result in colonies swarming earlier in the season which is either desirable or not depending on the keepers point of view. Personally as someone that let’s their bees swarm, (and hopefully captures most of them), I think it’s beneficial and allows for a longer period of colony build up with correspondingly greater summer yields and colony strength.

One downside is that the crop itself can have moderate to severe health implications for some people ranging from breathing difficulties, coughing and sneezing to severe headaches.  Anyone that has been near the crop when it’s flowering will have been aware of the powerful perfume that fills the air.




The downside for the bee keeper is that due to the small size of the sugars in rape honey it sets rapidly becoming hard even in the hive and must be removed and extracted rapidly ideally before the rape has finished flowering, which brings us to something else. While the rape is flowering and temperatures are high enough the bees will work furiously and be generally very happy and pleasant natured, or perhaps just too busy to waste time with any human interference. When the rape stops flowering and the flow finishes there is often something of a forage gap with little to fill it other than perhaps Acacia in a good year, consequently the bees can become quite bad tempered for a while.

Back to the rape honey, as mentioned it sets rapidly and is also very hard, however by stirring and remixing it will soften and is then sold as “creamed honey” or “miel crémeux” in French. If left hard in the tub or jar it is easy to soften with a knife when used. 

It’s also very pale, often almost white as can be seen in the photo; to state the obvious it’s the pot on the left.


Chris