They are widely accepted as the busiest insect on planet earth, humming their way through the summer to sweeten our toast for breakfast.

But news that one in three of the UK’s 240,000 honeybee hives didn’t survive the winter has given serious cause for concern.

Over the past few years there has been an abrupt disappearance of the black and yellow insects in a phenomenon which started in the US before spreading to continental Europe and the UK.

Fears of what this could mean for the food chain – bees are an essential part of our ecosystem, pollinating a third of what we eat – have been reported worldwide resulting in an upsurge in the number of people eager to nurture their own hives.

But according to Wharfedale Beekeeper Ken Pickles, 70, who is based in Addingham, the panic surrounding the situation is vastly over exaggerated.

Here in an exclusive interview, he advises any would-be keeper to hear what he has to say before rushing out to start an apiary.

“As a long-standing beekeeper, being the third generation in my family, I feel obliged to comment on some of the articles appearing in the media concerning our craft.

“In my opinion, what is reported is often misleading, leading to near panic in causing people to want to keep bees.

“Throughout the country Bee-keeping Associations have been inundated with beginners wanting to learn the craft.

“Classes have been filled to capacity by people prepared to pay money for the privilege. There is nothing really wrong with this but hearing of people being encouraged to keep bees on allotments, in small suburban gardens and backyards is not very wise.

“Bees are wild creatures and the overall population of beekeepers for the British Isles is quite small. The reason for this should be quite obvious to anyone with an ounce of sense.

“It is, of course that the little female worker bee carries a powerful sting. If she didn’t, practically everyone would be keeping bees just for the honey. You cannot really produce honey without pain no matter how careful you are.

“It is a well-known fact that bee stings hurt; they can make you ill and in extreme circumstances they can kill you. Bees in the wrong place can cause terrible public nuisance and enmity between neighbours and allotment users.

“All this has happened many times before and should be avoided for it brings the craft into disrepute.

“A colony of bees is a bit like an unexploded bomb and you wouldn’t allow an untrained person near it. Even with very experienced beekeepers there comes a time when the ‘Dunkirk’ spirit has to be invoked and you get away from the angry attackers as fast as you can.

“What I am trying to say is that it is one thing to keep a box of bees at the bottom of the garden to impress friends and neighbours. But it does carry real responsibilities, not only to the public, but to those other long-standing beekeepers in the area trying to breed better bees.”

He also points out how good intentions can go sadly wrong. “Some years ago bees were brought to Wharfedale from Essex,” he added.

“They were infected with a notifiable disease which resulted in the destruction of bees and equipment by fire to the tune of several thousand pounds.

“This disease was called America Foul Brood and for some 50 years it has reared its head in the adjoining valley of Airedale and further over in Calderdale.

“Few beginners would be able to identify it with certainty, even experienced men can miss it unless it is advanced.

“I have been messing about with bees since I was ten and am still learning. Beekeeping is a craft as old as time itself from when our ancestors gathered wild combs from hollow trees and caves. Until about 140 years ago, the bees in this country were kept in straw skeps. It had been so for thousands of years.

“Certainly, when the Romans came to Britain they recorded how much honey the Celts consumed and the alcoholic drink they made of it.

“My grandfather and his brother kept bees on the Duke of Devonshire’s land in the garden of one of the last thatched cottages in Keighley. In 1914, just before they left for France in Word War 1, all the bees in the valley died.

“Their death was a mystery but at the time it was thought by some to be an omen of the war. Others, accepted that it was a virus which killed 99 per cent of bees in Britain.

“This was very serious and because of the importance of bees in their pollination and the uses of honey as an important food and in dressings for wounded soldiers, plus the use of beeswax to waterproof tents and treat canvas aircraft wings, the country was flooded with bees from many other countries with little thought for the consequences.

“Not all British bees perished. Nature isn’t like that. Always there is a remnant. But for the war, it might have been possible to re-colonise these islands with our own bees again but the opportunity was lost and ever since we have been saddled with the problems from those imported strains.

“The European honey bee, which forms today’s population is made up of a mongrel breed some of which are still being imported. Each type could carry its own disease and ailments. On top of that, 20 years ago, a particularly nasty bug called the Varoa mite was brought into Europe on the backs of Asian bees. European bees were soon infected and whole apiaries were wiped out before a chemical treatment could be found.

“Since then, beekeepers have treated their bees with chemical preparations which have never been entirely satisfactory, being unable to tell what the side effects were.

“The colonies of bees we keep today are nothing like the strength of the colonies 30 years ago and neither are the honey harvests for you need a massive workforce to gather a crop of honey. The bees do their best but lack that drive and energy of their predecessors.

“Today, there are beekeepers that have never seen a really strong colony of bees at work. Bees enjoy warm, sunny weather which boosts morale, their breeding cycle and the gathering of nectar. Some suspect climate change is affecting them – others point to unseen rays from mobile phones or the type of hives we use.

“The point is that during these difficult times for bees it would seem more sensible to reduce the number of beekeepers rather than increase them. Apiaries would be sited at greater distances, thus reducing the spread of disease and allowing more disease resistant bees to be bred.

“If you had a potato blight in your crop you wouldn’t plant another crop alongside it.

“We have bees in crisis yet they are still being imported. What else do these bees bring with them?

“Birds were rightly protected in 1954 by the Protection of Birds Act. Bees have no such protection. Perhaps it’s time for some MP to take up the case?”