Program about bees on bbc 2

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Bugger I thought it was next week and was going to move so I could get a signal. Never mind always I player.
 
I thought that was quite good IMO. Good that he made it clear that it's not just pesticides :)

Many factors.

M
 
Tom Bick said:
Bugger I thought it was next week and was going to move so I could get a signal. Never mind always I player.
Click to expand...

You mean you missed my one and only TV debute....like i did, half way through putting clearing boards on in a field when ring ring my wife phones "your on Telly"
 
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Within the limitations of mainstream tv, I thought it was quite well done, really.

Not pointing the finger in one direction, so much as in all directions.
Fair enough.
Now, what are we going to do about it?
 
itma said:
Within the limitations of mainstream tv, I thought it was quite well done, really.

Not pointing the finger in one direction, so much as in all directions.
Fair enough.
Now, what are we going to do about it?
Click to expand...

The british library debate arranged by Bill Turnbill as part of the program had problems with the recording of the sound otherwise more than my two penny worth on Garden Sprays would have been shown,

Quite a few beekeepers were supported David Aston and the BBKA line, it needed an Anti-neonicotinoids Beekeeper to balance the debate
 
Erichalfbee said:
Who was you?
Click to expand...

TWO SECONDS OF FAME. I was the idiot asking the question in the Britsih Library debate that "i was concerned that I could go into my local super market and by litre of Garden Sprays which contained neonicotinoids ", they cut the rest of my question as i went on to say that i found the use of Free Bee freindly seeds to promote sales rather a cycnical ploy to enhance sale of neonicotinoids that would remain in the garden shed for years even if neonicotinoids were banned
 
MuswellMetro said:
TWO SECONDS OF FAME. I was the idiot asking the question in the Britsih Library debate that "i was concerned that I could go into my local super market and by litre of Garden Sprays which contained neonicotinoids ", they cut the rest of my question as i went on to say that i found the use of Free Bee freindly seeds to promote sales rather a cycnical ploy to enhance sale of neonicotinoids that would remain in the garden shed for years even if neonicotinoids were banned
Click to expand...
I hoped you were the chap at the Tate wearing a waistcoat as a beekeeping suit. Classy !!:winner1st::winner1st:

It's actually the first program I've seen that breaks down the argument to simple enough terms of WHY neonicotinoids are a concern.
 
Watched it with interest, however! Big business will always win unfortunately.

The UK's 'reluctant' 2 year break on neonicotinoids is merely a gesture, it does not need a professor to realise that the UK government can easily reintroduce neonicotinoids at the two year point as their will be little or no justification the break actually worked.

As I was watching the program I said to the missus, why not make it mandatory for crop fields to maintain a minimum 5 yard (or more) perimeter of wild native flowers? Not just the easement which is little more than a gesture that earns farmers a few extra quid.
The additional pollination from the super wild flower easement will more than offset the reduction in crop yielding area. Do the math!

Just after that thought the program mentioned that neonicotinoids may very well indeed sit in the soil, in theory this could render the wild flowers toxic too! So the above may well be academic!

What was the biggest concern was the GM work being done to render pesticides redundant, why would that be a concern.
Given the neonicotinoids industry is sharing little to no information publicly about the clinical trials it must have conducted, perhaps the impact upon friendly insects was known all along!
It stands to reason that we need guarantees that GM crops will not negatively impact bees etc, if the toxicity of neonicotinoids sits in the soil and /or migrates to other flowers etc, what is to say that what makes a GM crop reject pests will migrate to other species rendering bees food sources off limits, resulting in an irreversible break in the food chain.

No one has ever described me as a tree hugging type, so when I say we are the most destructive species on the planet.........:leaving:
 
Mammoth said:
Watched it with interest, however! Big business will always win unfortunately.

The UK's 'reluctant' 2 year break on neonicotinoids is merely a gesture, it does not need a professor to realise that the UK government can easily reintroduce neonicotinoids at the two year point as their will be little or no justification the break actually worked.

As I was watching the program I said to the missus, why not make it mandatory for crop fields to maintain a minimum 5 yard (or more) perimeter of wild native flowers? Not just the easement which is little more than a gesture that earns farmers a few extra quid.
The additional pollination from the super wild flower easement will more than offset the reduction in crop yielding area. Do the math!

Just after that thought the program mentioned that neonicotinoids may very well indeed sit in the soil, in theory this could render the wild flowers toxic too! So the above may well be academic!

What was the biggest concern was the GM work being done to render pesticides redundant, why would that be a concern.
Given the neonicotinoids industry is sharing little to no information publicly about the clinical trials it must have conducted, perhaps the impact upon friendly insects was known all along!
It stands to reason that we need guarantees that GM crops will not negatively impact bees etc, if the toxicity of neonicotinoids sits in the soil and /or migrates to other flowers etc, what is to say that what makes a GM crop reject pests will migrate to other species rendering bees food sources off limits, resulting in an irreversible break in the food chain.

No one has ever described me as a tree hugging type, so when I say we are the most destructive species on the planet.........:leaving:
Click to expand...

Not sure farmers will see the logic in that even though it makes sense.

Did you catch the neonic guy's get out of jail comment "If used correctly........."
 
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Mammoth said:
As I was watching the program I said to the missus, why not make it mandatory for crop fields to maintain a minimum 5 yard (or more) perimeter of wild native flowers? :
Click to expand...


Some will just grub up more hedges to make even more mega fields, so the 5 metre strip is an even smaller percentage of the land.

Dusty
 
It's nice to think that our government hasn't completely abandoned the agrochemical industry in favour of the insurance companies. But I suppose that their brothers-in-law, old school friends etc have shares in both sectors.
 
I thought the programme went overboard on the dangers of varroa.

The woman scientist called them the kiss of death for a hive.
Gave the impression that one varroa mite in a hive leads to total devastation.

I thought we now know how to manage this problem, with IPM.

But I wasn't keeping bees in the early days of varroa - so maybe I've got the Wong impression.

What do other more experienced beeks think?

Dusty
 
It was as you would expect from a TV program. Long on words: light on statistics.

So what can you conclude from it? Nothing at all.
 
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