bees are the buzz word of the day

Was invited to a greenpeace conference about bees - specifically why do half of the colonies not survive the winter in Switzerland? Who is to blame? The varroa mite, pesticides used in agriculture, climate or electromagnetic waves? One thing is certain: a bee colony weakened by toxins opens the door to threatening viruses and parasites.

To try to answer these questions, Professor Jean-Marc Bonmatin, Research Fellow at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) was invited to speak on the matter.

I'm interested because I fancy becoming a beekeeper. I keep harping on about it & recently I wrote an article about the bees in the city (pg 40) so I went along to these talk to kern some more. & learn I did! Next step, sign up as a friend member of the local beekeeping group for 2013 and get buzz-y!