NHMS Newsletter: July 2020

www.honey-monitoring.ac.uk

NHMS Newsletter: Update July, 2020                                  

Dear Beekeepers,

On behalf of the National Honey Monitoring Scheme (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), I hope you and your loved ones are well.

I wanted to send you all a quick update and a few reminders as we pass the grand number of 1000 sample pack requests! This is more than we received in the whole of 2019 which is brilliant. We have also had 350 samples returned; a significant increase on last year and amazing considering the lengthy shut down due to COVID-19. Thank you all!

Once we have received your tubes of honey your sample status will change from ‘Pack sent’ to ‘Sample received’- you will receive an automated email informing you of this.  This enables those of you who wish to send in 2 samples to request another pack via the website (under the ‘Taking Part’ tab). We cannot do this for you I’m afraid.

Please ensure that the sample submission details are correct, including the date of sample collection. The sample submission questionnaire can be updated/edited at any time by navigating to the ‘History’ table at the bottom of the ‘Taking Part’ page and clicking on ‘Edit questionnaire’. Please ensure that you are editing the correct sample as all honey associated with your account will be listed. Also note that the sample collection date - the only compulsory question for sample processing in the questionnaire - will be populated with the date on your tubes when your honey is logged.

Remember that we require honey ‘snapshots in time’. Therefore, they need to be collected direct from the comb and, if known, from your most recently capped honey. We are observing - of the 2019 data - clear forage patterns from spring through to autumn and is exactly what we hoped to gain through our sampling strategy. We will be scoring samples for the presence of comb and any that appear to be from processed honey may not be included in our analyses.

I would also like to encourage the completion of additional hive health questions. It provides useful data regarding honeybee heath which can be analysed alongside forage behaviour.

If you have any further questions please email honey@ceh.ac.uk.

With very best wishes,

Anna

Dr Anna Oliver

Molecular Biologist, NHMS