Countdown to crisis? – The last few years
2006 – Closure of Rothamsted’s honey bee research unit. Click here for more
April 2006 – National Bee Unit meet and discuss disappearing honey bee colonies in the UK, termed “Marie Celeste colonies”.
November 2006 -US Beekeeper Dave Hackenberg discovers empty hives in Florida, USA . This is termed fall dwindle disease by university scientists.
January 2007 – Fall dwindle disease in the USA is renamed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
Also - Chairman of the London Beekeepers Association (LBKA) John Chapple loses most of his hives.
And - National Bee Unit (NBU) report colony losses in the UK of 18.2% nationwide.
15 April 2007 – The Independent publish an article suggesting mobile phones are responsible for honey bee disappearances. Click here for an update on this story.
November 2007 – Defra minister Lord Rooker tells House of Lords: “If nothing is done about it, the honey bee population could be wiped out in ten years.”
January 2008 – Mr Chapple reports LBKA members lose around 50% of their hives.
Also - US department of agriculture allocates $80million “to carry research progress forward on CCD and pollination issues.”
March 2008 – The NBU report colony losses in the UK have increased over 25.9% nationwide, rising over 7% from last year.
8 April 2008 – The British government begins large-scale consultation plan which includes a review of funding for bee research.
23 May 2008 – Germany bans pesticide after misapplication causes millions of honey bees to die. For more on pesticides in the UK, click here.
17 June 2008 - Debate in House of Commons on the state of the bee industry. Defra admit they “need to find out what is going on”.
c.September 2008 – Defra expected to announce new strategy for protecting honey bees after five-month consultation. More from Defra and other MPs here.
