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

Please note that the skittles match against Shipston Beekeepers will be held at The Masons Arms, Long Marston this year as the Lygon Arms no longer has a skittle alley.There will be a finger buffet at a cost of £5 per head payable on the night and we do now need firm bookings. Please ring or email me by 10 November to confirm that you will be attending (I need confirmation from everyone - including committee members!).
Peter Edwards

Honey from the Association apiary is available for sale to members in 30lb (approx) buckets at £1.50 per lb. First come - first served.
Peter Edwards

We have a new video in our library - 'Introduction to Beekeeping' by Paul Metcalf.

The video, which runs for 100 minutes covers the beekeeping season from April to onset of winter. The management of colonies is carefully explained and demonstrated and topics covered include: swarm control, diseases, extraction of the crop and feeding. The video is paced to allow the viewer time to study in detail correct handling procedures in all stages of the hive's summer cycle.

Excellent for beginners, although I expect that we can all learn something from it.

Contact Ron, our librarian, if you would like to borrow it.
Peter Edwards

The Waldron Trophy for the best two-jar entry of extracted honey by a Stratford Association member was awarded to Denis Keyte for two jars of medium honey.

The Challenge Cup for the most points gained was awarded to Will Spencer.

The Cookery Prize for the best entry in classes 18, 19 and 20 was awarded to Kevin Roles for one honey cake to own recipe.

The BBKA Certificate of Merit for the best entry in show was awarded to Mike Osborne for one cake of beeswax.

Our congratulations to all the winners and sincere thanks to Bernard Diaper who, it was unanimously agreed, did an excellent job as our judge.
Peter Edwards

Pyrethroid resistant mites have now been found in Darlington, Durham and Market Drayton, Shropshire. This means that Bayvarol and Apistan are no longer effective in the affected apiaries. When resistance first appeared in Devon, the NBU decided to provide a free treatment using an alternative product not yet approved in the UK, in order to try to prevent the spread of the resistant mites. However, following the approval of thymol-based Apiguard for the treatment of varroa, the NBU has said that it is 'no longer able to routinely offer treatment with proprietary non-pyrethroid varroacide (under Special Treatment Authorisation from the DEFRA VMD) as we have during the previous two years'.

All of this is no surprise, of course, and beekeepers who rely solely on Bayvarol or Apistan must now start to use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques. For those who have not yet heard of IPM, I can perhaps summarise the main points briefly as:

• Monitor levels of the target organism, in this case varroa
• Treat only when necessary
• Vary the methods of treatment so that resistance is avoided

It is highly likely that resistance has developed, or will soon develop, independently in other apiaries. It is, therefore, important that all beekeepers using Bayvarol or Apistan monitor the effectiveness of their treatment and ask for help if mite numbers are not being controlled. There is a simple, standard test for resistance that we can carry out if you think that you may have a problem. Ring or email me if you need advice.
Peter Edwards

Since writing the above a new outbreak has been reported near Sherborne on the Dorset-Somerset border. The NBU's Regional Bee Inspector for the area was alerted by a beekeeper who noticed problems with a colony after having treated with pyrethroid strips. Finding varroa mites present he conducted a field resistance test which indicated resistance was present. Further tests were conducted locally in an apiary linked by movement of bees and here further signs of resistance were found. Resistance in both apiaries has now been confirmed by laboratory testing. The attached map shows their locations.

At this stage the source of the resistance is unclear, and it is not known whether it is confined to these apiaries or is widespread locally. NBU bee inspectors will be carrying out further tests in the area when possible. In the meanwhile they advise beekeepers to look for signs of resistance in their own colonies and to contact the NBU [or their DLC, PE] if they have any concerns.
Peter Edwards

No, not your average beekeeper with a very fine strainer. Ultrafiltration involves adding water to honey and then removing it after the diluted product has been passed through a filter so fine that it can remove items at the molecular level, e.g. it could remove chloramphenicol from contaminated Chinese honey.

Of course, this type of filtration also removes many other, desirable, components from the honey and the Food and Drug Administration in the USA has therefore ruled that UF honey cannot be labelled as 'honey', or even 'ultrafiltered honey', but must be labelled as 'sweeteners derived from honey' or 'sweeteners from honey'.

I am not yet sure of the UK or EU position, but I do hope that we will not become a dumping ground for UF Chinese honey.
Peter Edwards

September 26, 2003
The Gazette (Montreal)
Kevin Dougherty

The Quebec agriculture department was cited as announcing a $1.9-million program yesterday to help Quebec beekeepers whose hives have been devastated this year by the parasite mite Varroa destructor. In announcing the program, Agriculture Minister Francoise Gauthier was cited as saying that Quebec's 200 beekeepers have 37,000 hives and Varroa destructor has wiped out "no less than 50 per cent" of them this year. Denis Pellerin, of the beekeepers association, was cited as saying the damage is even worse in terms of honey production. For 2003, honey production in Quebec is between one-third and one-quarter of the usual amount.

[$1.9m is equivalent to £4,275 per beekeeper, PE]