LA secretaries meeting Nov 16th Perth 2013 - Thanks for having me !

[emcampbell]

Just wanted to say a big thanks again to the SBA for having me down to Perth to give you all a (very rushed - sorry!) update on the Acarine survey from last year as well as an outline of the PhD proposal that is joint between the SBA / Scottish Government and the Uni of Aberdeen. Exciting times ! I will be getting in contact with Acarine survey participants over the next week with wing morphometry results and to ask for more surveys to be returned if possible.

I didn't have time to go into our main research area which is the RNAi gene knockdown of Varroa but if any associations want me to visit and expand on this then drop me an email or message :)

Great to put a few faces to names as well.

Cheers,

Ewan

[Trog]

'twas good to see you and to have an update. Very much looking forward to wing morph results! Was it you or Fiona (or both?) who put up a slide of a map of Scotland with results? I couldn't see it clearly via Skype and wonder if you could put a copy up here?

[Jimbo]

Hi Ewan,

I was interested in your comment about you keeping the varroa in an artificial system. If possible could you expand on this and explain how you would achieve this. e.g do you need to make 'artificial bee blood' for the varroa to feed on.

[Phil McAnespie]

Hi Ewan,
It was really good to see you on Saturday. I'm just so sorry that time was our enemy as we could have thoroughly enjoyed hearing more about the RNAi research. I have no doubts that the associations will be getting in touch with you soon. There is a definite interest and to be at the starting point of potentially world class research is so exciting. I am so looking forward to the future of beekeeping in Scotland and as you said we are a country which punches well above our weight in many different world matters. Beekeeping need not be any less. With drive and determination we can really put Scotland on the world stage and who knows, but in 2021 when Apimondia comes to Scotland (there's confidence for you) then the research programmes here will be
there for all to see. Many thanks again and look forward to speaking with you and Alan soon. Best wishes. Phil