Stings & Puns

I found this excellent piece on bee stings: http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com/2008/01/lesson-21-bee-stings.html, written by David & Sheri Burns of Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, Illinois.

And besides, there's a winning pun on the website:

Ex Machina & swarm control

I quite like this robo-beekeeper video, from Gary Hammond : https://youtu.be/BCReKLV6CB4

Gary's pretty handy with a guitar, too.

An Inspector Calls

Following a case of EFB at a near-by apiary, the Regional Bee Inspector called. He used a lateral flow device, very similar to a pregnancy test thingy, to check.... and the answer, thank goodness, was negative.

From https://www.filmbankmedia.com/films/archive/details/657-an-inspector-calls

Chambourcy Nouvelle, la Louvre et les abeilles!

Chambourcy Nouvelle! Une membre de WBKA avez spotted les abeilles á la Louvre!

https://fr.nuxe.com/protection-abeilles-nuxe-louvre

Urban beekeeping boom is harming native bees, entomologists say

Far more importantly, the Canadian councillor who worries is called Francesco Miele - or "Frank the Honey" to his beekeeping mates...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/beekeeping-montreal-motion-native-species-1.5166091

Urban beekeeping is increasingly popular in Montreal, but the city's opposition party wants to control the practice in order to make room for native bee species. (John Minchillo/Associated Press)

One Thousand and One Uses for a Hive Tool

I wonder where "patio grouting" falls on the list?

Innovation courtesy my first (and so far only) wife

Go From Incompetent To Super Effective

The title of this podcast caught my eye: Go From Incompetent To Super Effective, based on Peter Drucker's 1967 book The Effective Executive

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-8wjrm-b1b4cf

The heart of advertising is promise, large promise.
Claiming to be 'The Definitive Guide" is quite something, let alone the assertion that he, or anyone,
knows which are the "right" things... 

That's enough swarm photos. Ed.

How beautifully convenient....

Queenery

Here's a nice diagram (if it's yours, please let me know and I will gladly add the credit)

Coutts Skyline Garden

Coutts' Executive Chef Peter Fiori was kind enough to show wife & self around the Skyline Garden. Peter has transformed the bank's roof into a productive, ingenious and bee-friendly paradise.

There's a hive up there too (but I didn't see that, in my proud tradition of incompetence.)

Photo by Marianne Majerus. I was so bowled over by Peter and his garden I forgot to take pics!

I love stories like this: "Shoppers run from huge swarm of bees outside The Range in Plymouth"

Video and hysterical over-reporting here: 

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/live-swarm-bees-range-plymouth-2931449

Video by Zoe Mathison

The Apiarist

Here's a nice blog: https://theapiarist.org/

The blog format doesn't do the content any favours; it would be better as a book.

Remember books? (Hyperlinks are great, but give me an Index any day.™)

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of hyperlinks, who
(a) is not the author of "The Apiarist" and
(b) looks like the brother I don't have.

Astrobees

OK, not really bees, but fun, all the same.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48381951

Buckfast

As you might expect, this Buckfast blog is well worth the reading time: https://www.buckfast.org.uk/bee-blog

And this Guardian article is worth a look, too:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/27/buckfast-drink-with-supernatural-powers-destruction

Ten Brilliant Beekeepers' Blogs

Naturally, Incompetent Beekeeper does not feature on the list of "Ten Brilliant Beekeepers' Blogs."

https://www.waltons.co.uk/blog/10-brilliant-beekeepers-blogs

Bastards.

(And there goes my chance of being included...)

McHive

It's heartwarming that after a few million years' evolution, this is what humans do.

Quanto costa un vasetto di miele?

In a long-running theme, here's another "How much does a jar of honey cost?" post. In Italy, it's €7.50 for 500g.

Picture from a WBKA member. No names, no pack-drill.

BBKA Basic

Another excellent course morning for the BBKA Basic at WBKA. It's astonishing how little I have learned in 15 years of beekeeping, and how many bad habits I have collected.

Don’t worry, bee happy: Bees found to have emotions and moods

From New Scientist:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2107546-dont-worry-bee-happy-bees-found-to-have-emotions-and-moods/

imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock from the New Scientist page

Time Out

In case you missed it... At £45 a go, that's pretty good money, honey.

Spotted by a WBKA member

Swarmy Hatfield

These bees chose a pavement, of all places, to land...

From https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/bee-swarm-on-pavement-in-hatfield-1-6051789

And here's the video: https://www.whtimes.co.uk/news/bee-swarm-on-pavement-in-hatfield-1-6051789?jwsource=cl

Imperial Purple Part II

Watching swarms walk in ... wonderful!

From a WBKA member. I wonder where the silk comes from?
(Better check the curtains. Or the bedsheets.)

Imperial Purple Swarms ... and an Ali Baba surprise!

The imperial purple runway is quite special... and then wait to see what's under the lid!

Posted by a WBKA member. How cool!

The Swarmy Lincolnite

Nice collection of swarmy pics here: https://thelincolnite.co.uk/2019/05/bee-swarms-invade-lincoln-streets/

Pics from https://thelincolnite.co.uk/

I, Beebot

How about this: Can AI help stop bee extinction? (To save you reading the article, the short answer is 'Yes.')

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/can-ai-help-stop-bee-extinction/ar-AAAYaqD?srcref=rss

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/i-robot

Egg, larva, pupa

I found this very nice chart at http://hwbka.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Bee-LifeCycle-Chart.pdf

And there's some nice blog stuff, too: https://hwbka.org.uk/just-as-you-feared-wasps-are-menacing-because-they-are-smarter-than-bees/

London Bee Corridor & the Brent Council Waggle Dance

The "London Bee Corridor" sounds too good to be true; it's certainly a snappy name. To point the bees the right way, I wonder if the Brent Councillors will indulge in a collective waggle-dance... They could sell tickets.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48187846
and
https://www.brent.gov.uk/council-news/press-releases/pr6968/ 

Councillor Krupa Sheth (LB Brent) says the "bee corridor" will be ready by the summer

Before you start keeping bees

After keeping (and losing and killing and catching and nurturing) bees for nearly 15 years, I thought I'd have a crack at the BBKA Basic Assessment.

Pic from https://www.thespruce.com/beginners-guide-to-beekeeping-3016857 
The clue's in the name

"Bees defy the laws of physics..."

Of course, there are no laws of physics. Nature does what nature does, and we describe what nature does with "laws." But nature does not follow laws, and we don't actually know why nature does what it does. It just does. So there.

Here's a picture of Richard Feynman, lest we forget.

Picture from https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/context/top-10-richard-feynman-quotations

Linked In, Cox's Honey, and a tinge of piffle

As a good-for-nothing ne'er-do-well, I searched 'beekeeping' on Linked In...

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1245683612/

Turns out that https://coxshoney.com/ is looking for help, in Idaho (where the spuds come from, I believe). There's a tinge of piffle on the Cox's Honey site, e.g. "Bees defy the laws of physics..." but I'll let that pass.

Beekeeping tours in Crete

A fellow WBKA member on hols in Crete spotted this:

If I charged €20 for an apiary tour, I'd be quids in. (Does that even make sense?)

Check out the QR code on the leaflet, too. 

Bees, Cleese and Atkinson

John Cleese went to the same school as me. So there.

https://youtu.be/OGFz9gt0-Fc

World Bee Day event

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Embassy of Slovenia is in partnership with Conway Hall and Bee Midtown hosting an event in celebration of World Bee Day 2019: WORLD BEE DAY COMES TO LONDON Tuesday 21 May 2019 from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL At 7pm there will be a welcoming address by the Slovenian Ambassador, Tadej Rupel, the Chief Executive of Conway Hall, Dr. Jim Walsh and a representative from Bee Midtown. Admission is free, but tickets must be booked in advance HERE

Royal Babies; I'm waiting for the call

Pic from http://www.atlanticspeakerbureau.com/nicholas-witchell/speaker

Beekeepers look after thousands of Royal Babies on a daily basis. I'm waiting for the call from Nick Witchell...

UN 'extinction report' predicts 1m species at risk

UN report here: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/

At the time of writing, we humans are one of around 8.7 million species on earth, which implies that more than 10% of species are threatened with extinction.

Looked at another way, 100% of species are threatened with extinction (that's how natural selection works).

In just the recent thousands of years, humans have achieved wonderful things - learned to speak, write, build pyramids, reach the moon and broadcast "The Only Way Is Essex."

At what cost?

Pic from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48169783

Saving bees with sugar.... errmmm, really?

Pic from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-48093351

I don't really buy this story. Saving bees one at a time will be a looooong job..

Saving bees with sugar: Connecting with nature or 'a last resort'?

Bees in a bird box

A friend came across these bumbles...

Another outstanding video from Richard Noel: swarms

As spotted by a WBKA member. You can see Richard Noel's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClFlG4yfKhR2-w9VN_r8M3w

I won't do that

Where do people find the time for this kind of thing? (And thank goodness they do!)

Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated

Pic from https://www.biography.com/writer/mark-twain

First opportunity today to check the colonies. Local temp was around 16C, and the bees were flying from all except one hive, which looked like bad news...

However, it turned out that the colonies were weaker than I guessed,and the non-flying hive particularly small. No queen cells found.

Fingers crossed for a warm May.

Guerilla Gardening

Last week I planted three Ceanothus in the track next to the apiary. Not strictly my bit of land, but ...

Pic from https://www.plantsgaloreonline.co.uk/plants/large-trellis-climbing-plants/ceanothus-thyrsiflorus-concha-trellis-climber-20-ltr-californian-lilac.html

Jericho Beekeeping

As usual, time only for Jericho Beekeeping this evening. All the colonies are going well and have enough space - but I didn't have time for a full inspection, so they could be riddled with queen cells and about to swarm.

Canadian researchers warn of 'cascading impacts' as bumblebee species decline

By the look of the photo, spearing insects with pins can't be helping too much, either...

See original story here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bumblebees-decline-pollinators-1.5106260

Roger Burns & swarm capture

Masses of swarms being collected by WBKA members, which prompted me to search for swarm stories. Here's one from 2016 in the Daily Telegraph.

Roger Burns, of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers, said: "I got about 15 or 20 stings for my trouble. I then left the cardboard box on the roof while we waited for the last few hundred bees to leave the boot but then a gust of wind blew it off and the queen may have fled back to the boot again."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/24/swarm-of-bees-follow-grandmothers-car-for-over-24-hours-attempti/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_em

Beginners, apparently

Run away!

Spotted by another WBKA beekeeper: look closely at top right, and you can see a monk legging it from the bees. I sympathise (with the running, not the monkery).

Merton Abbey

Honey harvest

I wondered a little about his method of cleaning up the supers...

Beekeeping with the Flow Hive in the Netherlands at Radio Kootwijk.

Four bees found living in woman's eye

Ugh! 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/bees-eyes-woman-taiwan-tears-hospital-a8862761.html

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/10/doctors-discover-four-live-bees-feeding-on-tears-inside-womans-eye

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47876130

Queen cells, at this time of year? Oh Yes!

Sent in by a WBKA member:

So much for spring....

It's 10C in London, and a good bit colder in SW England. Here's a shot from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47799408

BWARS and Vespa velutina

Found this site - the Bee, Wasp and Ant Recording Society, with a scrap of info about Vespa velutina:  http://www.bwars.com/Vespa_velutina

Download the information sheet here: http://www.bwars.com/sites/www.bwars.com/files/info_sheets/Vespa_velutina_information_sheet.pdf

David & Jane Richards Family Foundation - and bees

I happen to (very slightly) know David Richards, he's the CEO of WANdisco
www.wandisco.com

First Asian Hornet of 2019 - BBKA news

https://www.bbka.org.uk/news/first-asian-hornet-of-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

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

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.

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}
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47698294

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:

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

Sign this petition

 © Crown copyright

Need-to-know from Friends of the Earth

An amusingly inaccurately named page from Friends of the Earth:

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.

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:

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

Neal's Yard, again

https://www.nealsyardremedies.com/bee-lovely-timeline.html

Neal's Yard, part deux

https://www.nealsyardremedies.com/bee-lovely-timeline.html

Neal's Yard bee-friendly campaign

https://www.nealsyardremedies.com/bee-lovely-timeline.html

The real reason honeybees are all dying out

Private Eye 1491 - 8 - 21 March