Urban and rural bees

The French say their urban bees fare better than their rural bees. Agricultural pesticides, says The Union of French Apiarists (Unaf), are the problem. The effects of two banned chemicals Gaucho and Regent they say are still being felt. Others blame the importation of foreign strains of bee which are unsuited to conditions.

I can't say I'm thoroughly convinced by these arguments, but UnaF have launched a campaign to increase urban beekeeping.

I certainly think that urban honey is often tastier than rural honey and that the heat-island effect of cities often enables bees to forage more days in the year.

Here's another slightly more detailed report.