It is established that the native British Bee has been under pressure since the 1950s from insecticides and non-native species. In the 1950s there were over 50 native species of bee in the UK, yet now there are just 25. The rest have become extinct in this country, and the number of non-native bees has increased. Many people have speculated that the invasion of alien species has hastened the demise of our own, and this is one possible cause of the decline of the UK bee.
We favour the British Bee (Apis Melifera Melifera) and not any of the imported or hybrid varieties which have been available in the early 20th century. Populised by the Buckfast Abbey monks who did much to develop these hybrids following the outbreak of the Acarine disease. Many of the bees that died were of the native British black bee variety. This bee was renowned for being hardy, but somewhat ill-tempered. The bees that survived the outbreak mostly of Italian origin. (www.buckfast.org.uk).The British Black Bee is hardier and, in our experience, seems to understand our native flora better than the imported Italian bees and the strains we have developed are the calmest we have. Our intention is to continue with this work and offer both honey products and starter colonies to local beekeeping enthusiast and encourage the resurgence of the native British Bee.
