Varroa and foulbrood: what UK law asks of you

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Varroa: reportable since 2021

Since April 2021, varroa in a colony has been reportable in England, Wales and Scotland. 2

That sounds alarming, but the duty is light. You report once, per apiary, on your apiary record on the government’s BeeBase service. 1 It is there for statistics and planning, not enforcement. Nobody visits because you reported varroa. Nearly every colony in Britain has it.

• What to do: register on BeeBase (free) if you have not already, and tick varroa as present on each apiary’s record. See the official varroa reporting page.
• How often: once per apiary is the core duty - it is a presence record, not a diary.
• Keep monitoring anyway: mite counts through the season are what actually protect your colonies, and they justify your treatment decisions in your medicine record.

Foulbrood: notifiable, report it immediately

American foulbrood (AFB) and European foulbrood (EFB) are the two notifiable diseases named in the Bee Diseases and Pests Control (England) Order. 3 Wales and Scotland legislate separately, so the wording quoted here is the English one. The signs are sunken or perforated cappings, a ropey test result, a sour smell, or melted-down larvae. If you know or suspect either one, you must notify immediately, and the duty is on the owner or the person in charge of the hive.

Two pests are notifiable on the same terms, and neither is in Great Britain yet: the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) and any species of Tropilaelaps mite. 3 If you ever think you are looking at either, it is the same duty and the same phone call.

Once you have reported it, not moving anything is no longer a courtesy. Article 4 prohibits removing any hive, bees, combs, bee products, hive debris or appliances from the premises until an authorised person or a test says the colony is clear. 3 Destruction, where it is ordered, is done under article 7.

The duty starts at suspicion. You do not need to be sure: the wording is “knows or suspects”. 3 An inspector would far rather check ten healthy colonies than find one hidden infection a year later.

Registering on BeeBase also means you get told when foulbrood is confirmed near your apiaries. That is one of the best reasons to register. Registering on BeeBase, and what happens when foulbrood turns up near you covers what that email means and what an inspector does.

Asian hornets: report sightings too

The yellow-legged (Asian) hornet is treated separately - sightings should be reported with a photo via the Asian Hornet Watch app or the online form. Our hornet identification guide covers it.

The record-keeping that backs it up

None of these duties is hard work if your inspections are written down. Varroa counts with dates show a monitoring history, disease checks show you have been looking, and treatments feed your veterinary medicines record. If an inspector ever visits, your records do most of the talking. Our own treatment records mostly land between September and February.