THE beehives in Bron Wright's back garden in Trinity were silent. The familiar buzz of activity had dwindled, the busy hive where swarms of honey bees once hovered was lifeless.
"It was terrible," says Bron. "I was absolutely devastated. You feel responsible for it happening but you know you're not alone. Because it's happening all over the place."
In Penicuik, beekeeper John Troup must know how she feels. He once kept mo
re than 100 hives, each home to up to 80,000 honey bees which would forage on the heather around his house.
Now all but a few of his hives have been deserted.
Honey bees are vanishing at an alarming rate. And the implications – reports of bee populations in crisis span the UK – stretch far further than simply forcing up the prices.
"No bees, no fruit crops," declares Alan Bennell, who has tended bee hives at the Royal Botanic Gardens for the past 15 years. "Bees are absolutely vital. They might not disappear altogether but there are a number of fruit farms that will see crops suffer if there aren't enough bees.
"And if their numbers drop below a certain level, there will certainly be an impact."
Like Bron and John, Alan opened his hives in spring to discover seriously depleted stocks.
While beekeepers speculate over a mysterious and so far unidentified syndrome which simply wipes out the populations and on the impact of mobile phone radiowaves – it's thought they might disorientate bees – Alan believes it is more straightforward.
"There has been a considerable erosion of the population over the last three or four years and I believe there are two reasons – our more violent fluctuations in the weather and the impact of disease, in particular varroa.
"You must have a big enough colony to survive the winter. And when there is a mild spell in winter, the bees lose their sense of hibernation and they fly too soon. Then the frost comes down and they die.
"
For Bron, of Lennox Row in Trinity, losing three of her four garden hives was a bitter blow. Conscious of the threat from the varroa mite – which attaches itself to the honey bee like a tick – she made sure her hives were treated with preventative medicine.
"My concern is that the varroa has become resistant to the treatments we are allowed to use," she says. "And if there are pockets where the varroa is resistant to treatment then it is very bad news indeed."
Her four hives once produced up to 100lbs of honey every year. With three hives emptied of bees over winter, she is now desperately trying to rebuild her colonies using queens acquired from fellow beekeepers.
"It's very difficult to say exactly why the bees have gone," she agrees. "And frankly there isn't enough research into what is going on.
"Varroa is the major concern but I wonder if it's a result of colonies becoming weaker because of the way we are treating it. One method is to sacrifice the drone because the varroa mite lives in greater numbers in the drone than the worker bees.
"But by removing a number of the drones we remove the male and a vital part of the reproductive process is diminished.
"The queen isn't being mated effectively and might not lay enough eggs."
Like Alan, she too is concerned over the impact of changing weather patterns. And for her, there is another layer to the mystery – the potential impact on bees from farmers' seed treatments and pesticides.
In Germany pesticide use has been blamed for the entire collapse of an area's bee population. Eight pesticides commonly used on rapeseed oil and sweetcorn crops have now been banned after beekeepers in the Baden-Württemberg region reported two-thirds of their bees died after the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.
"There are a lot of theories," says Bron. "We desperately need money to go into research so we can find out exactly what is happening."
Penicuik beekeeper John agrees research is vital.
"I don't really know what's happening.
But I know the bees aren't here any more and that it's affecting everyone.
"I'm 68 now and it saddens me that the time will come when there won't be any native bees," he says. "People are having to buy their bees in from abroad. So the days of pure Lothian honey are pretty much going to be gone. Everyone who keeps bees is in the same boat."
The changes over the past few years have been dramatic, he adds. After years of producing honey with his Braeside Apiary stamp, he no longer plans to attend the local farmers' markets to sell his produce.
"If something isn't done soon, there'll be none left."
Bee populations have been dramatically hit throughout the country, with keepers across the UK complaining of losing up to 75 per cent of their bees during hibernation. Some fear they are witnessing the start of an alarming phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder – or Vanishing Bee Syndrome – which is sweeping the US and Europe.
Una Robertson, past president of the Scottish Beekeepers Association,
says: "The varroa mite is one thing but there is more than one disease and more than one single problem.
"Einstein said that without bees the world would starve in four years. Certainly if you haven't got any bees, there's no honey crop and no external pollination either. We produce five tons of honey a year in the UK, but the pollination services they provide are worth £166m.
"The total contribution by bees to the economy, including profits made from the sales of food, is up to £1 billion.
"So no holly berries at Xmas, no raspberries in summer – all sorts depend on the bees."
A spokesman for the Scottish Government says work is under way to investigate the demise of the honey bee. "The Scottish Government is committed to the health of its honey bee population and the prosperity of its beekeepers. Higher than average bee losses have been noted in Scotland, and although there is no obvious reason for these losses, we are closely monitoring the situation," he says.
"We will publish a comprehensive Scottish Bee Health Strategy this summer which will examine the state of Scotland's bee population potential threats and what can done to help the bee sector."
Whether progress comes quickly enough is something beekeepers can only hope for before it's too late.
"Certainly, if this situation isn't treated carefully then our bees will be in trouble," warns Una. "There is no doubt about it."
HIVE'S REALLY BUZZINGTHERE are 20,000 species of bee of which honey bees make up only a very small section.
Honeybees create elaborate nests or hives which can contain up to 80,000 bees during the summer months, less in the wild.
They work together in a highly-structured order with each bee belonging to a groups called castes: they are either queens, drones or workers.
The queen's role is to make more bees and there is only one in each hive. The workers feed selected larvae royal jelly which causes them to become queens.
When active, a queen can lay more than 1500 eggs every day and can live for up to eight years.
She grows to 20mm and controls the workers or drones by emitting chemical signals called pheromones.
There are around 3000 beekeepers in Scotland managing around 20,000 hives.
