National Honey Monitoring Scheme: Newsletter May 2021
Dear Beekeepers,
I hope this newsletter finds you well. Please find below a short update on the 2020 results and a progress report for NHMS 2021.
NHMS 2020 results
Laboratory work is now completed and the vast majority of plant DNA signatures have been successfully sequenced and passed through our bioinformatics pipeline. There are more than 7000 plant sequences identified, and these are about to be matched to the UK plant lists and prepared for uploading to the website. This will take a few weeks but your 2020 results are, at last, nearly ready!
We are also going to make the land use/habitat data available at the same time as the molecular data. These are ready but we decided it makes more sense to upload all results at the same time to avoid confusion.
Taking part in NHMS 2021
We have dispatched almost 700 packs so far and a small number have already been returned – thank you. Please keep both the requests and returns coming. The NHMS is not possible without your support and we hope to have honey from across the UK returned from the spring into autumn.
Sample packs can be requested via the ‘Taking part’ tab once you have logged into your account at https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/. This needs to be done every time you require a new sample pack however, sample packs from last year are still valid and can be used.
Instructions are provided within each sample pack also, https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/nhms-2021-sample-pack-letter.
Questions?
Please visit our FAQs page (https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/taking-part/faq) or email honey@ceh.ac.uk.
With very best wishes for a successful honey season,
Anna and the NHMS team
Dr Anna Oliver, Molecular biologist, NHMS
