SOUTH WEST BEEKEEPERS’ FORUM

I drove 40 miles to the SWBKF meeting held at Somerset BKA’s Taunton division clubhouse at Heatherton Park, a few miles south west of Taunton. I arrived 2 minutes later than the official 11am start but I wasn’t the last and our Chairlady, Anne Rowberry, didn’t open the meeting until 11.20.

We have no Secretary as Kathy Lovegrove, who has done a wonderful job for the last 7 years, has retired, having given notice a year ago. Nobody has been found to replace her although John Lauwerys of Hampshire volunteered to take the minutes on this occasion. I did notice, however, that Kathy, who was sitting next to me, was taking copious notes. She was presented with a bee-friendly potted plant and a hive tool with her name inscribed.

The meeting was a hybrid, with 10 of us there in person and 8 via zoom. The minutes of the last meeting, held on 28th November 2023 were approved and there were no matters arising. Our Treasurer, Ben Benjamin, reported little movement of cash and we have over £1,000 in the bank.

There was discussion on how to cope without a Secretary and John Lauwerys will liaise with Kathy to create a job description and, hopefully there will be somebody to fill the role by the next meeting, in August.

Next on the agenda was the review of our constitution and how the occupation of The Chair would revolve between branches, with or without training. Was a vice Chair necessary in case the Chair was unable to attend a meeting?

We took a lunch break at 1o’clock to eat our picnics, enhanced by excellent chocolate cake and biscuits. I took a stroll around their apiary in which about half of the hives were quite active, the day having become sunny for a change.

We resumed at 1.40 and discussed whether our meetings should be in person or hybrid. It was about then that Chris Utting joined us on zoom as did several other people. We had a report from Lynne Ingram of the Asian Hornet conference which had been brilliant! People had attended from all over the British Isles and from Belgium. Eventbrite charges £63 per event plus £1.60per person. There had been 254 paying delegates.

We discussed coordinating activities to resist the Asian Hornet. There were concerns that the NBU is underfunded and will be unable to cope if/when the Asian Hornet becomes established. If they have to concentrate their limited resources on the hornet there’s likely to be a boom in foulbrood! Also there were worries about insurance cover for people undertaking track and trace. We cover far too large an area to take part directly in hornet hunting, but it was suggested that there could be sub groups of overlapping counties that could participate.

There was a brief review of the BBKA Annual Delegates’ Meeting, which had been a hybrid event in January with only 10 people there in person and 55 on line. A problem was that those on line were chatting among themselves and those present couldn’t hear what was being said. It was suggested that in future it would make sense to combine the ADM with the Spring Convention.

Our next meetings will be on 6th August and 26th November 2024 and 25th February 2025.

We finished at about 4pm and went out to find a nice sunny day in which we could have been playing with our bees, which were hardly mentioned at the meeting!

MOBILE AGAIN!

At long last I’ve got a new driving licence! The DVLA refunded me what I’d paid for it so they must agree that they were incorrect in making me give up my old one. Now I can get to meetings and visit hives.

Yesterday was the AGM of the Dorset BKA, held in Dorchester. The guest speaker was Richard Ball who spoke for an hour about DARG, what we’ve done over the years and our current project: assessing the latest version of the Bee Gym, a device that helps bees dislodge Varroa mites.

Then came the cake break during which we could sample cakes, flapjacks and biscuits exhibiting the culinary skills of the East Dorset BKA ladies who seem to be almost as good as those from West Dorset BKA! I went round the table several times, comparing and contrasting. My favourite was the bread pudding and I might have a go at making some myself.

It’s worrying that I was about the average age of those present! Where are the next generation of beekeepers? Our representative at the BBKA Annual Delegates’ Meeting is stepping down and they couldn’t find a replacement. I did it for quite a few years and enjoyed it but I don’t fancy doing a 3 hour drive each way nowadays.

Today, after drizzly start, it got little warmer and drier so I made a tour of my apiaries in the north west of Dorset. First was Neal’s Copse. The hive in the wild flower meadow seemed busy. I noticed that the bees are quite dark. Then I looked at my other hive, tucked away below the ha ha. It too was busy and I saw pollen going in.

Then I went to Halstock where I have a hive in a small, walled, back garden in a housing estate. There’s a new notice on the door warning of bees within! I could see them flying over the wall When I had mastered the lock and went in I saw that the bees were very busy indeed. I didn’t disturb them.

Finally I visited my hive on the edge of a garden in the middle of nowhere near Rampisham. All was quiet. I opened the hive and found masses of honey but no bees. I didn’t perform an inquest but took away a very heavy super that was a struggle to lift and is now sat in the back of my car. I suppose I should do some extraction before too long so I can pay my rent for my apiaries: a pound of honey per hive per annum. I normally drop it off at Christmas but I had neither honey nor transport then.

If the weather’s ok I hope to visit my other apiaries during the coming week.

A BUSY TIME OF YEAR

I’m just back from a social meeting of the Dorchester & Weymouth BKA at which about 30 expensive Asian Hornet traps were handed out to those who had ordered them. I’m told that a recipe for bait will be on our website tomorrow as Trappit, the bait that used to be handed out, seems no longer to be available.

On Sunday there’s a meeting of DARG, the Devon Apicultural Research Group, at Buckfast Abbey’s bee shed. I hope to get there as I now have a driving licence again and my car is at a local garage for its MoT and for its battery and tyres to be recharged after being unused for 8 months. I hope then to visit all my scattered apiaries, most of which I haven’t seen since last June. I wonder how many of them have survived the winter and the lack of Varroa treatment.

Next week we have the AGM of the Dorset BKA at which I hope to be re-elected as Vice-President and as one of our representatives at the South West Beekeepers’ Forum. Richard Ball, Chairman of DARG, is to be our guest speaker.

I seem to spend more time talking/writing about bees but sumer is i’cumin in and I should soon be spending more time playing with the bees. I’m a bit worried about being stung as it is such a long time since I last was stung that I may have lost my immunity. Maybe I should deliberately get a test sting on my left hand and see what happens.

ASIAN HORNETS ARE DUE TO ARRIVE!

Last Sunday afternoon the Dorset BKA had an Asian Hornet teaching session at Sunninghill School in Dorchester. I am still (after several months!) awaiting my driving licence to be renewed but fortunately a friend from the next village was going and gave me a lift.

We had been advised to bring a bottle to be provided with more Trappit, hornet bait but there wasn’t any! They have been trying without success to find a source. We were told how to make our own bait using fruit juice etc. I should have made a note of the recipe at the time but didn’t and have now forgotten it! If anybody has the recipe please share it.

On the BKA stand there were the usual leaflets etc and also several Asian hornets trapped in clear plastic. It was good to be reminded exactly what they look like. We had several Powerpoint presentations showing last year’s invasions, mostly around ports, including Portland where 2 colonies had been found and destroyed.

Half way through, we had a tea break and there was a table full of assorted delicious cakes created by the culinary queens of West Dorset BKA I think. I ate far too much for me!

The final presentation was by Pollenize from Plymouth about their Artificially Intelligent invention (still being developed) that baits Asian hornets (and other insects) to a white platform beneath a camera which films them, identifies them, sends an alert if positively identified and notes the flight direction and the time it takes to return for more of the bait. I don’t think it’s available quite yet but hope it will be soon. There’s a lot of information on their web site.

As we were about to leave, with help from a friend, I managed to add the Asian Hornet application to my portable telephone. Now I have to discover how to use it.

It’s time to get my garden trap set up!

A TOME AT HOME

I’m gradually working my way through a massive book, almost 500 pages long! From 353 until the index at the end, though, it’s a list of all the literature cited, which I don’t think I’ll bother with. It’s called Honey Bee Biology written by Brian R. Johnson with a forward by Tom Seeley. The publisher is Princeton University Press.

I’m learning so much stuff that I didn’t know, for example, there are over thirty sub-species of honey bees, Apis mellifera. I could name only about six!

After the Introduction there are chapters on: Natural History, Systematics and Phylogenetics (a word new to me!); Development; Anatomy and Physiology; Genetics and Genomics; Neurobiology; Neuroethology and Cognitive Science; Reproduction; Evolution; Life History, Ecology and Nesting Biology; The Honey Bee Colony is a Superorganism; Division of Labour; Communication, Labour Allocation and Collective Decision Making; Chemical Ecology; Foraging; Tropical Honey Bees; Immunity, Parasites, Pests and Pathogens; Detoxification and Pesticides and, finally, Honey Bees as Managed Pollinators.

There are lots of helpful diagrams, charts and pictures and even a few pages of colour photos. This is a book that every BKA should have in its library to help its members who are studying for beekeeping exams. I know that Jerry Burbidge of Northern Bee Books has some copies on his shelves.

A NEW APPRENTICE? – MAYBEE!

I received a late Christmas card from a fellow member of our LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) group. At the end of her note she had written: “If you could suggest who I could borrow a bee suit from I might find a bit of time between now and new year to drive you to some hives.”

As I’m still without a driving licence that was a brilliant offer! I checked out the weather forecast and decided the next day would be least bad so I contacted her and made a list of my apiaries that it would be practical to visit and plotted them on a map to plan the route. Unfortunately, Sarah wasn’t able to pick me up until after lunch, which reduced the available time. I offered her a choice of my spare bee suits and she chose the camouflaged one.

First we called in at Frampton Court where we parked next to the ice house, kitted up and headed for the hive. It was good to see a roe deer bounding across the field to the apiary in the corner. It’s close to the river Frome and there has been lots of flooding recently so I was glad to see it hadn’t been washed away!

The weather was too cool to do a thorough check on the hive but I removed the roof and crown board and saw bees in the super, which I briefly edged aside to see plenty of bees below. The hive was quite heavy. We closed up and left.

We headed via the Dorchester by-pass which had lots of traffic jams because of holiday makers going home but we eventually reached Greenwood Grange, a holiday village near Hardy’s cottage. The site has a new owner of whom I was unaware until he contacted me recently as he was concerned about the bees.

He was on site, ready to meet us and I gave him a copy of Bees vs People, my book of poems about bees and the people who keep them. Sarah and I then went across the field to the apiary where I have several empty hives and two occupied. I briefly checked both of them and they were fine, with plenty of bees and stores.

After a brief stroll through the nearby forest we returned to the car and started heading for Ourganics, a site at Litton Cheney where I’ve had bees for almost a quarter of a century. The owner, Pat, now has several hives of her own. As we were driving through Dorchester the sky darkened and as sunset was drawing near we decided to postpone that visit to another occasion.

When we got home I found a jar of cut comb honey which I gave Sarah. Later I arranged a payment in Marts, our local currency, for her time. I hope we can visit the rest of the hives on my list soon.

IF YOU WANT TO KEEP AHEAD GET AHAT

This evening, still awaiting my new driving licence, I caught the train to Dorchester to attend a meeting of the BKA in the Colliton Club. The purpose was to update and educate us on the Asian hornet and the speaker was Mark White, a member of our Asian Hornet Action Team (AHAT) from east Dorset. He was supported in the back row by Kevin Pope, the recently retired Bee Inspector who has much experience in dealing with Asian hornets. There were about 40 of us present and I find it worrying that the average age was not a great deal younger than mine! Where are the young beekeepers?

Mark, besides being involved with Dorset’s 4 AH events this year, has also done so in Jersey and France. In Jersey he visited Bob Hogge who keeps Asian hornet captive in aquaria in his living room! There have been 77 Asian hornet cases in England this year and the map showed that they were nearly all around ports or along roads leading from them

Mark gave an excellent powerpoint presentation including a video of the hornets in action. He had also brought along a couple of new hornet traps and also hornets embalmed in clear plastic. He told us that the BBKA has an online course on the Asian hornet. I must try and find it but I don’t have much success with the BBKA website. There’s also an Asian Hornet app that you can download onto you portable telephone. I must also look at the East Dorset BA website.

Yesterday I attended (by Zoom) a meeting of the SW Beekeepers’ Forum and learned about an Asian Hornet all day event being held at Bridgwater, Somerset, on the 6th January. There will be lectures and workshops and (probably) traders. As it’s an all day event the £10 they’re charging is probably reasonable. They need about 300 visitors to cover their costs and have sold about 100 tickets already but they will be seeking more grant money. I shall wait until I get my driving licence before I book a ticket (unless anybody offers me a lift).

AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

It being a fine day with a blank diary I decided to walk the 5 miles to my hive at Hooke as I’m still without a driving licence. I wasn’t really expecting them to be alive as they were a small swarm that, the last time I walked there, about 6 weeks ago, was short of stores and completely broodless. Therefore I didn’t take veil and tools with me to save weight but put a pair of goggles in my pocket just in case.

After a little over a mile, going up a long steep hill on the main road, the A356, a man in a van stopped and offered me a lift! I thought that happened only in Ireland! He is new to the area so I had to navigate him, taking him well away from his intended destination but, as he pointed out, he’s self employed (a decorator) so doesn’t have to explain to his boss why he’s late.

He dropped me off at the site below another large hill, Mount Pleasant, and I entered the field and struggled through the undergrowth. It was difficult to see the hive at first as it was hidden by nettles which I trod down. For elfinsafety I put the goggles on and opened the hive. It was beeless with no sign of stores or of there having had brood. There were lots of corpses on the floor, which I cleared.

Then began the walk home, with no lift this time. I’m now down to 17 hives, assuming the 5 that I haven’t been able to visit for months are still alive. One of them, on Portland, is within a quarter of a mile of where an Asian hornet nest was found and destroyed. My friend, Sally, who lives on the island will try to visit them to see if they’ve been hornetted. I’ve warned her to take secateurs as it’s in a private nature reserve that rapidly overgrows.

I hope to get my driving licence back soon as my GP has told the DVLA that the multiple tests I underwent at the Hospital revealed no sign of a stroke so I’m fit to drive.

A BETTER DAY

A couple of members of my family are holidaying in Dorset and spent much of the day with me ferrying me around the countryside visiting 5 hives on different sites. It’s the first time I’ve seen 4 of them for months as I’m currently without a driving licence. The 5th one is only about 4 miles from home so I walked there once, carrying veil and tools.

As always, some are doing better than others and it looks as if I will be able to harvest some honey, but not a lot, when I get my driving licence back. I had a phone call this morning from the Surgery telling me that the GP has written to the DVLA telling them that the Stroke Team at the Hospital had completed their investigations and discharged me, there being no driving restrictions. I hope the DVLA return my driving licence promptly, after which I will have to renew my car insurance policy and road tax. It’ll probably take a few weeks.

The other bit of good news today is an email from Jeremy Burbidge of Northern Bee Books asking for half a dozen copies of Bees vs People, my book of poems about bees and the people who keep them.

A DIFFICULT YEAR FOR BEEKEEPING!

Apart from the weather, which has been all or nothing, a problem occurred at the end of May when I was involved in a car accident. The seat belt and air bag possibly saved my life but left me very bruised around the rib cage. This made it very difficult to bend forward to put my socks on or tie shoelaces etc and lifting heavy supers etc was impossible!

That lasted for some weeks but then things got worse when the medics suggested that I might have had a mini-stroke, whether cause or result of the crash hasn’t been mentioned. The GP forbade me to drive and then I had a letter from the DVLA requiring me to hand in my driving licence! They say it will be about 6 months before I get it back, if I do.

I have 18 hives in 16 apiaries scattered around the County (with one over the boundary in Somerset at Bee Happy Plants). Only two are in my village so I can visit them but will need to get a wheel barrow to transport supers etc.

Yesterday I walked over 4 miles to an apiary at Higher Wraxall sited under lime trees where the hive last year produced 4 supers of honey but died over winter of isolation starvation. I last looked at it in May when there were lots of bees visiting it, presumably robbing out all the remaining stores, but there was no sign of a queen or any brood. They were busy again yesterday with wasps as well as bees going into the lower entrance, but mostly they were using an upper entrance in the rim of the queen excluder.

I put the heavy super aside to examine the brood box and once again found it empty! I then looked at the super which was all cross combed so I couldn’t examine the brood that must have been there. The swarm must have entered via the top entrance so the queen couldn’t go down. I have now removed the queen excluder in the hope that the bees will complete filling the super with honey, forcing the queen down to the brood box. I shall walk there again in a few weeks.

Three more hives are only about three miles away so, weather permitting, I hope to visit them soon carrying my veil and tool belt in a knapsack. I hope things get better before too long!