 |
| I happen to (very slightly) know David Richards, he's the CEO of WANdisco www.wandisco.com |
30 March 2019
David & Jane Richards Family Foundation - and bees
29 March 2019
Pollinator action plan
Showing my hignorance, I'd never previously come across this: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees/ask-your-council-introduce-pollinator-action-plan
You can also buy a slightly daffy 'festive Bee Saver kit'!
Ask your council to introduce a pollinator action plan
You can also buy a slightly daffy 'festive Bee Saver kit'!
Help bees this Christmas with Friends of the Earth’s festive Bee Saver Kit
28 March 2019
Pollen a-plenty... in the wrong place!
An Association member sent this extraordinary pic of pollen on the ground at the front of the hive. Diagnosis (from an experienced beekeeper) is that the small hive entrance set by the beekeeper during winter is causing hurly-burly congestion now spring has arrived, and pollen is spilling from the bees' baskets.
27 March 2019
I'm sorry, I'll read that again
Bees: Many British pollinating insects in decline, study shows
As reported by the BBC, the study (which you can find here) says:
The "losers" include solitary bees, which live in burrows in the ground, and upland bees, living on mountains and moorlands. Among the "winners" are 22 of the most important crop pollinators.
So a perfectly good headline would also be:
Numbers of important pollinating insects on the rise, study shows
In other words, "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that." {Dr Ben Goldacre}
As reported by the BBC, the study (which you can find here) says:
The "losers" include solitary bees, which live in burrows in the ground, and upland bees, living on mountains and moorlands. Among the "winners" are 22 of the most important crop pollinators.
So a perfectly good headline would also be:
Numbers of important pollinating insects on the rise, study shows
In other words, "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that." {Dr Ben Goldacre}
Plan Bee - Naturism, anyone?
Despite the bizarre use of English in the headline (is it asking us to safeguard our valuable Nature while the rest of it can go to heck?), this seems like a good cause:
Sign this petition
Petitions
UK Government and Parliament
PetitionBe fair to Bees, Plan Bee –Help farmers safeguard our valuable Nature!
Young people from Northern Ireland are asking government to support devolved institutions by having a UK wide strategy to provide funding to support farmers delivering valuable ecosystem services, such as providing wildflowers for pollinators.
More details
25 March 2019
Need-to-know from Friends of the Earth
An amusingly inaccurately named page from Friends of the Earth:
A fair number the 20 are not facts. Actually, I'm not sure *any* of the 20 are facts. What a pity; some perfectly good messages and motivations being confused by pseudoscience and new-age gibberish.
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees/20-facts-you-need-know-about-bees
20 facts you need to know about bees
A fair number the 20 are not facts. Actually, I'm not sure *any* of the 20 are facts. What a pity; some perfectly good messages and motivations being confused by pseudoscience and new-age gibberish.
https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees/20-facts-you-need-know-about-bees
Nuke 'em
Very satisfying weekend’s work, preparing three nuc boxes – home-made
from spare chipboard etc. Considering you can buy a perfectly good nuc for about
£25 including delivery, I think I’m working at below the National Minimum Wage.
 |
| Found this on eBay at £24.99... OK, no space for a feeder etc, but cheapskates can't be choosers. |
24 March 2019
How swarming drones will change warfare
OK, in the context of a beekeeping blog, the headline makes no sense. Here's the bit that caught my non-compound eye:
Swarmy reading for you: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47555588
Flinging a barrage at a defence system is one thing, but that could be done with a sack of rocks. The key to the swarm is that it's smart enough to coordinate its own behaviour.
It's not only the military that's interested in this problem. Dr Justin Werfel is a senior research scientist at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
"In a natural swarm of birds or bees, all individuals are doing their own thing. Each one has its own brain, knows what it can see for itself," he says. "You don't have an explicit hive mind. The queen bee is not giving instructions to everyone.
"The challenge is how you build the individuals so that the collective does what you want."
Swarmy reading for you: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47555588
23 March 2019
22 March 2019
21 March 2019
20 March 2019
19 March 2019
18 March 2019
Educational bees
A client's company is sponsoring a beehive. Which is nice.
http://www.wisewoodprimary.co.uk/news/detail/beehives-in-school/
http://www.wisewoodprimary.co.uk/news/detail/beehives-in-school/
16 March 2019
Flow Hive, again
Here's a yah-boo article about the Flow Hive. If you ignore the New-Age piffle about communing with bees, the author (Maryam Henein) makes a reasonable case agin the Flow Hive.
https://www.honeycolony.com/article/against-flow-hive/
https://www.honeycolony.com/article/against-flow-hive/
15 March 2019
Will the Flow Hive survive first contact with The Enemy?
As a natural skeptic, I can't help thinking that the Flow Hive (an object of great beauty) will not survive first contact with The Enemy. In my case, everything looks wonderful and neat at the start of the season, and by the end the whole shebang, including me, is covered in honey, wax and propolis...
14 March 2019
Vespa velutina
This arrived in my inbox, http://frelonasiatique.mnhn.fr/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/09/Progression_Invasion_Vespa_velutina-Q_Rome_MNHN.gif
It's a great - worrying - graphic. I like the optimistic areas 'in check,' even if they vanish so quickly.
It's a great - worrying - graphic. I like the optimistic areas 'in check,' even if they vanish so quickly.
10 March 2019
BBC - If the insects go, then we go
Catchy headline, for sure. Or how about, "If the trees go, then we go," or "If the seas boil off into space, then we go."
In other news, the Pope is Catholic.
In other news, the Pope is Catholic.
07 March 2019
Queen survival - see Chris Slade's Bee Blog
A bit late in the day (OK, two months after his original post), some enlightening stats from Chris Slade: https://chrissladesbeeblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/22/queen-survival/
Chris' records show that his queens are in his care for an average of 2.28 years (two years three months). As he points out, the actual lifetimes will be longer, because some queens will be swarm arrivals and some will push off in a swarm and may live on for another few years.
https://chrissladesbeeblog.wordpress.com/
Chris' records show that his queens are in his care for an average of 2.28 years (two years three months). As he points out, the actual lifetimes will be longer, because some queens will be swarm arrivals and some will push off in a swarm and may live on for another few years.
https://chrissladesbeeblog.wordpress.com/
06 March 2019
05 March 2019
Bee record cards: Little Giant Beehive Log
Normally I use standard BBKA record-keeping cards... and then spotted this on Amazon:
The Little Giant beehive log will help you keep track of your hives in all weather conditions! Featuring Rite In The Rain patented water-shedding paper, these notebooks are useable even in the heaviest of rains or the hottest of days. Record and measure all of your hives' most important details. 100 pages.
|
| https://www.miller-mfg.com/beekeeping-supplies.html |
04 March 2019
Beekeeping laws in Germany
Now, you'd like to believe this:
Believe it or not, the German Civil Code has a specific statute that is to be applied in the event that two or more swarms flee their hives at approximately the same time and, while properly being pursued by their respective owners in order to preserve their ownership rights, merge to form one larger swarm. Should that happen—and I’d very much like to know if it ever has—the owners split the bees:
If bee swarms of more than one owner that have moved out merge, the owners who have pursued their swarms become co-owners of the total swarm captured; the shares are determined according to the number of swarms pursued.
So, let’s say five swarms are on the move, followed by four beekeepers flailing around with bee nets (obviously I know nothing about beekeeping). Beekeepers A and B are each pursuing one swarm. C is pursuing two different swarms that tried to flee his place at the same time, while D was just driving by and has never owned a bee in his life.
He just finished beekeeping school, or something. Meanwhile, Beekeeper E is sitting at home not pursuing his swarm, which is one of the five. If all five swarms merge and the resulting überSchwärm is captured, what happens?
What happens is that some German lawyers are about to make a bunch of money, that’s what happens.
German Civil Code § 963 (“Merging of bee swarms”).
Copied from https://boingboing.net/2014/02/28/german-beekeeping-laws-are-wei.html, which itself is an excerpt from "The Emergency Sasquatch Ordinance," https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1627222693/downandoutint-20
03 March 2019
Hive Years & Millennials
In an idle moment, I calculated my age in Hive Years: about 35. Some friends with 20+ hives must be well into their hundreds, and maybe into their first millennium. Odd to think of an 80-year-old as a Millennial.
In case you're wondering, keeping one colony for one year = 1 Hive Year.
In case you're wondering, keeping one colony for one year = 1 Hive Year.
01 March 2019
Hive radio
Sadly (a) not about bees and (b) not on air.
https://hiveradiouk.wordpress.com/about-us/
There, that was worth reading, wasn't it?
https://hiveradiouk.wordpress.com/about-us/
There, that was worth reading, wasn't it?