Hon. Newsletter Editor:
Peter Edwards
E-mail: beekeepers@stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk

Due to changes in the student training requirements at the college training restaurant, they have requested our annual dinner be a banquet style meal with choice menu, at the reduced price of £20 per head. This year we have been asked to pay a deposit and, to assist our treasurer, it would be appreciated if meals could be paid for before 29th January. Cheques should be made payable to SBKA and posted to Will Spencer (address above).

To book your place please contact Terry Hitchman 01789 740136 before 25th January and if you have special dietary requirements please mention these when placing your order.
Terry Hitchman

You may have read that there are new regulations that apply to honey.

The Honey (England) Regulations 2003 came into force on 25 September 2003, harmonise regulations throughout the EC and bring honey labelling into line with that for other foods. They revoke and replace the Honey Regulations 1976, although transitional arrangements state that:

'In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that -

(a) the food concerned was marked or labelled before 1st August 2004; and

(b) the matters constituting the alleged offence would not have constituted an offence under the Honey Regulations 1976 as they stood immediately before the coming into force of these Regulations.'

The new regulations:

(a) prescribe definitions and reserved descriptions for certain specified honey products (regulation 2 and Schedules 1 and 2);

(b) restrict the use of reserved descriptions to the specified honey products to which they relate (regulation 3);

(c) prescribe labelling requirements for such products (regulations 4, 5 and 6);

(d) specify a penalty, enforcement authorities and, in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of Council Directive 89/397/EEC on the official control of foodstuffs (OJ No. L186, 30.6.89, p.23), a defence in relation to exports (regulations 7 and 8);

(e) apply various provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 9);

(f) revoke the previous Regulations and make consequential amendments and transitional provisions (regulations 10 and 11).

So how does this affect you? Provided that your honey and labelling complied with the 1976 regulations you need do nothing before 1 August 2004; after that date there are, as I understand it, three main changes:

1. The maximum limit for HMF will be 40mg/kg instead of 80mg/kg.
2. The country of origin must be shown.
3. A 'best before' date must be shown.

HMF levels should not be a cause for concern if you do not overheat your honey, but I understand that there are now discussions about the interpretation of the regulations for items 2 and 3. For example, it is not yet clear whether a region can be shown rather than a country and there is no agreed standard for the 'best before' date (or 'indication of durability') - although it has been suggested that this should be one year from the date of bottling (I would have thought that the date of production was more relevant!).

Under the circumstances, I would suggest that you do not order labels beyond your requirements to 1 August and wait until the regulations have been interpreted. I will give you further information as it becomes available.
Peter Edwards

The main honey producing countries for 2002 were:

At the halfway mark during our annual skittles match against Shipston beekeepers, Stratford was leading by one point. Unfortunately, possibly affected by the increased alcohol consumption, we failed to capitalise on this and eventually lost by 165 points to 158. Nevertheless, still close enough to make an exciting game of it, and one of our members did win the prize for the biggest score. Since this was Moira, my wife, I can personally confirm the accuracy of her aim with a thrown object over several yards! We were at a new venue this year at the Masons Arms, Long Marston, who provided us with an excellent buffet, and we seemed to get our share of the raffle prizes. There were a total of 58 people taking part and it was great to see several of our new members there.
Mike Osborne

Dr Marla Spivak received the James I Hambleton Award last year at the Eastern Apicultural Society's (EAS) meeting in Brunswick, Maine. The award is given by EAS to an outstanding researcher. In her acceptance address, Dr Spivak said:

'Honeybees are in crisis and beekeepers are not helping them much. Bees are certified "junkies" and beekeepers have become their "pushers." A new set of rules is necessary to get the bees off the chemical/pesticide treadmill. Her advice was direct and to the point:

1. Stop right now any preventative feeding of antibiotics.
2. Cull combs to remove AFB spores and pesticide/antibiotic residues.
3. Leave mites in colonies; do not try to eliminate them all; in some cases bees can sustain 10% to 15% infestation with little harm.
4. Pesticides "pamper" bees; let them use their own innate defence mechanisms. Use selective breeding to give bees tools to work with and then leave them on their own. This includes incorporating hygienic behaviour, SMR and characteristics of other stocks (Russians).
5. Use IPM now! This means thinking before acting; apply pesticides only as a last resort. Use soft chemicals when possible. Again, leave mites in the colony so the bees have a long- term fighting chance on their own.'

Whilst her first point does not apply (or should not apply!) to the UK where the feeding of antibiotics by beekeepers is illegal, her remaining points are very relevant to us.
Peter Edwards

Dr. Alan Gidney from Longframlington, Northumberland wrote to me recently about Lime poisoning:

'I was interested to read the item about the toxic effects of lime flower nectar on bees in your recent newsletter. [On the website, PE]

On 14 July, when on holiday in Aldfield, near Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, I noticed many bumblebees lying dead or dying under an avenue of lime trees in the village - I counted at least 120. I had not heard of this problem with limes before so was puzzled by this observation. A friend later told me that he had recently read something about this so I did a search on the web and came up with your website.

If, in the case of limes, the honeydew is an aphid secretion, could the death of bumblebees be related to the extent of the aphid infestation? In normal conditions with small aphid populations then a smaller number of bee deaths might be less noticeable, but if this year's hot weather caused local aphid population explosions and hence more honeydew and more bee deaths ... it might account for the local occurrence of recorded bee deaths.'

This certainly seems to be a plausible explanation for the phenomenum; hot, dry weather would also tend to concentrate the nectar in Lime flowers, as it is known to dry up rapidly under these conditions.
Peter Edwards