Dear Beekeepers,
On behalf of the National Honey Monitoring Scheme team at UKCEH (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), I would like to again say a big thank you to those who have returned honey samples to us. We have had 600 samples back this year, 3 times as many received in 2018. In addition, we have seen an almost 80% return rate, compared to 50% this last year. Long may it continue!
As we have now reached our cut-off date for this year we are no longer accepting any more honey from 2019. However, sample packs for 2020 can be requested on line at any time. Your requests will be kept on file and we will begin sending out sample packs from next March.
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, Ujala and myself have been busy in the lab filtering, extracting DNA and amplifying plant signatures from your honey. I can now confirm that we have successfully sequenced over 20 million plant DNA signatures from the first batch of 2019 samples received, with almost 2500 different plant DNA sequences identified. We are currently preparing the data for uploading onto our website. They will be with you as soon as possible.
Molecular work is also well underway for the second batch of samples – those received after the 27th August. I would anticipate that we will provide you with results of these late-season samples by the end of February 2020.
If you have any further questions please email honey@ceh.ac.uk.
Best wishes,
Dr Anna Oliver
Molecular Biologist, NHMS
