Some members of the Bee Team were lucky enough to meet Amy Turner, a research graduate who is studying Varroa Destructor mite DNA...with a view to finding more solutions to controlling this terrible parasite of honey bees. Amy is using 5 Varroa mites from 35 apiaries around the UK and we are delighted to be one of them! Normally beekeepers send their samples in the post, but Amy kindly came to us, to teach the children about her work and let them do some hands on sample taking!
The children used forceps to collect the Varroa mites which had fallen through the open mesh floor of the hives, they were difficult to spot amongst all the normal hive debris of wax and dropped pollen!
Amy taught the children all about DNA and what she hopes to find from our 5 varroa mites, Jeremy our local Community Police Officer also popped into the Bee Shed to learn!
Amy will keep us up to date with her study, maybe our Varroa mites contribute to finding the next big step towards eradicating this terrible parasite!
Amy will keep us up to date with her study, maybe our Varroa mites contribute to finding the next big step towards eradicating this terrible parasite!
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