THE announcement of a �200,000 fund to help commercial bee farmers prompted a group of individual beekeepers to contact Borders MSP Christine Grahame.

There are around 1,500 individual beekeepers in Scotland who to date have not received government help to restock after severe weather conditions diminished, and in some cases completely wiped out, their colonies.

Representatives from Borders beekeepers contacted Ms Grahame who now has asked Environment Minister Richard Lochhead to step in and help.

She said: "The Scottish Government has pledged �200,000 to help commercial farmers rebuild their hives but some Borders beekeepers don't qualify for funding."

"I have explained to the Minister that these hives are vital to the biodiversity of town and country and I am hoping he will agree to establish a scheme to provide one association per district with a modest grant for the purpose of breeding queens. This would be distributed thereafter to other associations in the district allowing colonies to be replenished by letting nature, and of course, the bees do the rest of the work." Ms Grahame said: "A small injection of cash could really help these beekeepers restore their stocks. The money could fund artificial insemination of the queens then these queens would be distributed to other associations in the area. This will then guarantee a well mated queen regardless of the weather conditions and could contribute substantially to helping bee preservation."