Blog

It's been an exciting year - the bees have inspired a whole range of new projects and endeavours, of which we hope to give you a taste.

We would like to tell you about the remarkable people behind the South African honeybee conservation group Ujubee and share with you their latest findings on a behaviour of the honeybee that serves to immensely enhance our understanding of colony responses. More than t...

Dear Friends

As we are approaching the Ides of March, your beautiful bees will have already gladdened your heart with delightful forays into the world of early pollen during the midday hours of sunny winter days. Now is is vital to keep a careful eye on their honey stor...

A beekeeper looks a swarm in the eye

(credit: Tucka Sackville)

Dear Readers

In celebration of the lengthening days (at least in the northern hemisphere), this blog piece introduces and links several concepts and finishes with a video of a short talk by a leading bee resea...

The Bee Carol

Silently on Christmas Eve,

the turn of midnight’s key;

all the garden locked in ice -

a silver frieze -

except the winter cluster of the bees.

Flightless now and shivering,

around their Queen they cling;

every bee a gift of heat;

she will not freeze

within the wint...

The BBKA View of Bee Health

Here are some words from the bee health page of the BBKA’s website followed by an extract from the BBKA’s teaching syllabus:

You must be able to manage varroa in your bees, if you want to be a beekeeper.  Keeping bees is like keeping other ani...

Greetings

The leaves have started falling and we send our greetings.  Samhain, All Souls, the end of harvest are now behind us and we look back over a season of many blessings and bee-inspired encounters. 

As our bees prepare for a period of staying in the dark of t...

Picture - A 'temple' guard protects the inner sanctum of a wild tree colony

(Beech Tree, 5m above the ground on a cold October day - Essen Germany)

In the following article Jonathan Powell addresses the subject of bees as we hardly know them. Wild bees living in trees....

Autumn Greetings

The summer weather in the UK has been the usual variable mix, with much of the summer being cool.  However we have had a late summer warm spell and the ivy has now started flowering, with the bees and many other insects taking full advantage.

N...

The native British Black Bee (pictured above in my apiary) was said to be extinct in England by about 1920 due to the ravages of the so-called Isle of Wight Disease.  It was also said that only through importations from Europe could bees be kept going in England.  Howe...