England's honeybees fared much better in this year's mild winter than in the bitterly cold conditions the previous year, an annual survey shows.
Around one in 10 honeybee colonies were lost between the beginning of October 2013 and the end of March 2014, compared to a third of colonies which failed to survive in 2012/2013, the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) winter survival survey reveals.
It is the best set of results since the survey was first conducted in 2007 and a turnaround in fortunes on the previous year, which saw the worst losses recorded by the poll.
Less severe weather conditions helped more colonies to survive this year, the BBKA said, but warned that the loss of 9.6% of honeybee colonies across England was still too high. Despite being helped by the mild weather this winter, honeybees still face a number of threats such as the parasitic mite Varroa and honeybee viruses that are associated with it, the BBKA said.
Research is needed to find practical solutions to deal with Varroa, it urged.
The survey conducted annually among the association's members revealed the South East had the highest losses, at 15%, while the lowest losses were recorded in the western region, at just under 7%.
The biggest improvement on the previous year was seen in the South West, where more than half of honeybee colonies (53%) were lost in 2012/2013, but less than 9% were lost this winter.
