Results of colony loss monitoring in Scotland for the winters of 2007-2008 to 2011-2012

We began surveys of beekeepers in Scotland in 2006, using a geographically stratified approach and postal questionnaires. These have run in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012, with annual surveys beginning in 2010. In 2006 questions on colony loss related to unexplained losses. Since 2008 we have asked about any losses and have used stratified random sampling. We have recently examined winter loss rates based on our strata, using two different broad geographical splits, i.e. North-Central-South and East-West. These are of interest in relation to presence/absence of Varroa infestation, and different forage sources, both of which may have an association with loss rates. For the winters of 2009-2010 onwards, striking and statistically significant differences have been observed between winter loss rates between beekeepers in the east and the west of Scotland. Loss rates in the east are consistently higher. There was no significant difference in loss rates prior to that winter, and it appears that something changed between 2007-2008 and 2009-2010. Differences between the north, central Scotland and the south were not significant. Important management practices such as supplementary feeding going into winter, and Varroa treatment are unlikely to differ systematically between such large scale geographical areas, although they will differ between beekeepers. Considering possible reasons for the observed differences between areas, we are looking for factors that affect all or a large proportion of beekeepers in a given area. In Scotland two factors which have changed in recent years are the growing of Oil Seed Rape and its treatment, and also weather patterns. Examination of winter loss rates amongst beekeepers whose bees forage on OSR and those whose bees do not showed the loss rates in the former group to be significantly higher. The growing of OSR is strongly associated with area, and is much more common in the east of Scotland than the west. Investigation of possible risk factors associated with the different loss rates is ongoin

Experience and evaluation of colony loss monitoring in Scotland : survey methodology, response rates and degree of success

Surveys of beekeepers in Scotland have been running since 2006, with Scotland joining COLOSS Working Group 1 in 2010. Since 2008 these surveys have been based on stratified random sampling of the membership records of the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association (SBA), and have used a postal questionnaire with a covering letter. The surveys have run in late spring, after a small scale pilot run, and allowing 3 to 4 weeks for response to the main survey. Late returns are accepted and included where possible in the COLOSS return. A small prize draw has been possible in recent surveys as an incentive to participate, and a postal reminder is issued. The SBA has approximately 1100 members. Sample sizes were 100 beekeepers approached directly in the 2006 survey, 119 SBA members in 2008, and 200 hobbyist SBA members in the 2010 survey (plus 26 bee farmers), 200 SBA members in 2011 and 250 in 2012. Response rates were 77% in 2006, 42.0% (50; 44 beekeepers) in 2008, 68.5% (137, of which 116 were beekeepers; plus 9 bee farmers) in 2010, 47.0% (94; 64 beekeepers) in 2011, and 41.6% (104; 91 beekeepers) in 2012. Our main observation regarding the success of the questions is that questions relating to bee management lead to illogical results in a large proportion of cases. Our attempts to allow for all possibilities in the answers to these questions have not reduced the incidence of such unreliable results. We therefore use stated colony numbers at the start of winter and stated losses to calculate overall loss rates. As bee management is rare in Scottish winters, this should have little impact on conclusions. Summer losses are very low. For future surveys, we plan to operate an online questionnaire based on LimeSurvey (http://www.limesurvey.org/), for speed and ease of data collection and lower costs, possibly with a larger scale sample

Losses of bee colonies

Following the survey of SBA members in 2006, a second survey was carried out in the late spring of 2008 as was reported in this journal last November and December. This brief report on losses of colonies experienced by the respondents to that survey is the first of what is hoped will be a series of several articles covering particular topics of interest to members revealed by that survey. A full report of the whole findings of the survey will ultimately become available, probably through the SBA's web page, but it will clearly be too long a document for 'The Scottish Beekeeper'

A survey of SBA members for 2010

This article is a survey of the Scottish Beekeepers Association members for 2010

Colony losses in Scotland in 2004-2006 from a sample survey

In the early summer of 2006, a postal survey of beekeeping in Scotland was carried out on behalf of the Executive of the Scottish Beekeepers' Association (SBA), to obtain an overview of some general aspects of current beekeeping practice and experience in Scotland. Of particular interest were colony losses and also extent and impact of the parasitic mite Varroa destructor (Anderson and Trueman, 2000). The Scottish experience is of interest, as V. destructor is not yet universally present throughout the country

An update on recent colony losses in Scotland from a sample survey covering 2006-2008

Peterson et al. (2009) reported figures on honey bee colony losses from a postal survey of beekeepers in Scotland carried out in early summer 2006 on behalf of the Executive of the Scottish Beekeepers' Association (SBA). We now provide updated figures on Scottish colony losses and on the reasons for these losses, from a repeat survey in late spring 2008 and covering the period April 2006 to April 2008

Varroa and losses of bee colonies in Scotland

In relation to Scotland, some interesting findings on unexplained colony losses and a possible link to Varroa infestation of bee colonies arise from a survey of members of the Scottish Beekeepers' Association (SBA) carried out in May 2006. This survey covered the period April 2004 to March 2006 and was undertaken largely as a response to reports of apparently newly emerging problems with queen rearing in parts of southern England and concern over the effects of the arrival of Varroa destructor in Scotland in 1996 and its subsequent wide spread across the country

The SBA survey 2008 : some preliminary findings

Following the survey of SBA members in 2006, a second survey was carried out in late spring of 2008 to monitor the ongoing effects of Varroa and experiences of colony loss. It also attempted to collect information on various environmental factors rumoured to be possible causes of colony collapse disorder (CCD), to enable further investigation and modelling of the risk of sudden colony collapse. The design of this survey was described in the November 2008 issue of the Scottish Beekeeper

Der Turm zu Babel

As air traffic is forecasted to increase, air traffic control software subsequently needs to be more sophisticated. To efficiently push development forward, testing is important in order to determine usability. The tests need to be adapted to fit a particular purpose and carried out with methods that preserve the validity of the results. This thesis describes an implementation project carried out at the EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre, Bretigny-sur-Orge, France. The purpose of the project is to create an application that enables a user to create datasets of air traffic to be used for these tests. The application allows for manual work or bulk imports from external data sources. Furthermore it compiles scenarios as output datasets intended for prototype air traffic control software developed at Linköping University. The application design rationale and development process is described. Some time is spent on demonstrating the flexibility of the application and how its usage fits in a bigger picture

A note about the SBA/COLOSS survey of beekeepers in Scotland

As regular readers of The Scottish Beekeeper will know, the SBA/COLOSS survey runs each year in spring, primarily with a focus on experience of colony losses over winter, however the questions also ask about wider beekeeping experience and management practices. The results are analysed at Scottish level, but data representing responses from a subset of the questions are sent for analysis together with similar data from other countries participating in the COLOSS (www.coloss.org) colony loss monitoring surveys. COLOSS is an international research association which links scientists and others who are active in studying honey bee colony losses. In 2018 there were 36 countries in total taking part in those monitoring surveys, mostly but not all in Europe. This joint analysis allows international comparison of winter loss rates. While a few areas have consistently high loss rates, in general the countries with relatively high or low loss rates differ in different years, most probably due to changing weather and other environmental factors. Scotland has been participating in the COLOSS surveys since 2010