This looks pretty damning ....

[gavin]

Swedish study looking at wild bee performance in real landscapes with and without chlothianidin and a pyrethroid (cyfluthrin) on the oilseed rape seeds sown locally:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14420.html

[Jon]

The past couple of years there has been accumulating evidence that wild bees and other pollinators are getting harmed by neonics whereas honeybee colonies are much more resilient.
If neonics run into registration problems it will be because of the bumbles and other pollinators as opposed to perceived damage to honeybees. That's starting to look more likely.

[mbc]

I've always tried to see both sides of the argument with pesticides and avoid over emotive reactions, but after doing an apiary by a river yesterday and seeing the river virtually devoid of fly life on a warmish morning in late April where it was teeming with all sorts of life when I used to fish there in my youth (yes, I know, rose tinted specs, but still,,), I say ban the lot of em !

[Jon]

I say ban the lot of em !

Trouble is that will never happen and we might get left with the worst ones!
That has always been my worry with regards to the anti pesticide campaigns which focus just on neonics.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi mbc I remember the hatches of large dark olives and the feeding fish

Elsewhere somebody posted a hoverfly pic , they are more vulnerable than bees as the larva can be feeding on pests such as greenfly

It seems pointless to set aside a strip of land at a field edge and pay subsidy for doing it if the field is then sprayed with insecticides
I have about 5 acres that is never sprayed , my neighbour has about 4 acres then across the burn the next small holding is cows/sheep 5 acres never sprayed
The opposite direction about 10 acres of mostly woodland that again is not cultivated
A splash in the ocean because for miles in all directions after that it's just rape,potatoes,grain all requiring lots of chemical input sometimes with the set aside strips of something daisy like
Thats mono culture, well trio culture really, but we all have to eat so what is the solution ?