‘colony collapse disorder’, where most, if not all, of the bees die for no known reason. They are also under attack from varroa mites, which suck their blood weakening them, shortening their life span and causing many never to return from their nectar collecting flights. This, along with the Israeli acute paralysis virus makes the bee very vulnerable in our busy world. For more than 100 years bees have
Buckfast Abbey. Soon after the re-foundation of the Abbey in 1882 bees were kept to help provide wax for candles and as a sweetener. The first keepers were Fr Masse and Br Columban. In the early 1900s they were joined by a young lad from Germany called Adam Kehrle later to become Brother Adam. He was to spend nearly 80 years of his life caring for the bees at Buckfast Abbey. Over that time he became one of the worlds leading authorities on bees and their diseases and was instrumental in developing the now world famous Buckfast Bee, a hybrid of the British black bee, an Italian bee and from other varieties collected from around the world. This special bee was bred as a result of the devastation to the Abbey’s bee colonies caused,
had friends at
■ Brothers of the abbey, from years gone by, with the hives.
in the early 1920s, by the acarine mite, when 70 per cent of the hives were lost. This ‘new bee’ had immunity to the disease and as a result some queens have been exported around the world. Br Adam was awarded an OBE for his work in 1974 and retired from the bee department when he was 93. He died in 1996 aged 99 years. Today his place is taken by Dr Behnam who hails from Iraq.
Dr Behnam became interested in bees as a result of managing colonies in his homeland but has studied bee pathology in Germany and has worked for the United Nations. His current focus is in trying to find a bee resistant to different pathogens including the varroa mite as well as bees that are less inclined to swarm. Quiet and peaceful work with a sting in its tail, which one day may help to save the world!
33
THE BUCKFAST BEE
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