EU report finds death rates in honey bees lower than feared

An EU survey into the impact of pests and diseases on honey bees found death rates were lower than feared, in part countering concerns about the collapse of colonies of the crop-pollinating insects.

The study of 32,000 bee colonies across 17 EU member states from late 2012 until summer 2013 found winter mortality rates ranged from 3.5% to 33.6%.

The winter of 2012-13 was particularly cold and the highest mortality rates were in northern countries with harsher climates.