MISERABLE summer weather has taken the sting out of the south Devon honey trade.

Beekeepers are mourning the plunge in production caused by the absence of sunshine this year.

Most producers are saying their output of the true amber nectar has dwindled by a pot-shrinking 70 per cent.

One amateur keeper is Newton and Teignbridge councillor David Corney-Walker, who reckons he is a typical victim of the honey drought.

'It's been one of the worst years on record,' he complained this week as he checked on his apiary in Kingskerswell.