Mid Ulster council to support campaign to ban import of honey bees

From the The Irish News, https://www.irishnews.com/news/council/2021/03/31/news/mid-ulster-council-to-support-campaign-to-ban-important-of-honey-bees-2273997/ 

You’re Not Vegan If You’re Still Eating Honey

Well, this is from Yahoo!, so I'd take this with a pinch of salt, so to speak: if you are a vegan and eat honey, this makes you a 'beegan.' 

As usual, you heard it here ... 

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/not-vegan-still-eating-honey-101600671.html

BBKA Talks for Children

Two brilliant lectures for children by our Past President Margaret Murdin. Margaret is a Master Beekeeper, holds the National Diploma in Beekeeping and is a Past President of the BBKA but describes herself as an ordinary, practical beekeeper, currently with twenty colonies across three apiaries. Margaret began as a member of Ormskirk and Croston Branch in Lancashire where she learnt her beekeeping over the years before moving to North Oxfordshire.   Margaret's background is in education, so she is naturally interested in furthering the education and training opportunities available to our BBKA members. 'We have a duty to our bees and to the public to be as good as we can as beekeepers. We all need to update our skills from time to time and to learn about how to deal with new threats and diseases'. So, Margaret actively encourages members to keep up-to-date with training and take the Basic Assessment if they have not already done so. Margaret Murdin, past presi...

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Bear Cool Honey Company Supporting the BBKA to Save Our Bees

Help and support Bear Cool Honey Company as we support the British Beekeepers Association raising funds for research into the threats our beautiful honeybees face. Every year the British Beekeepers Association selects scientific projects from a wide range of subjects that benefit bees and beekeeping. These might include bee behaviour, bee husbandry, pollination, forage or the environment. Funds donated provide vital support to run these projects and we are happy to support the BBKA as one of our chosen charities. We already donate a percentage of funds from sales of our cards and our Adopt A Beehive Scheme and want to thank you for your support. These donations will now be added to our fundraising page so you can see the good work you are doing. Linda, Maddison & the Bear Cool Bees 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝❤️

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Petition to stop importing honeybees

The problem is that at least one beekeeping business has said that they want to import bees to the UK through Northern Ireland. The bees they are sourcing come from southern Italy where a serious invasive species and parasite of bees, the Small Hive Beetle is established. The inspections on bees are extremely limited and we are fearful that a small, clubbed antenna, beetle will be able to evade their scrutiny and be imported to the mainland.  Please Sign the parliamentary petition to stop this!  https://ift.tt/3d4dM0c And please support the work we do -ends- 

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Importing Bees "against best practice for our environment"

24 March 2021 Beekeeping Associations,  from all around the UK,  are in agreement that the importation of bees from overseas is totally against best practises for the protection of our environment. The problem is that at least one beekeeping business has said that they want to import bees to the UK through Northern Ireland. The bees they are sourcing come from southern Italy where a serious invasive species and parasite of bees, the Small Hive Beetle is established. The inspections on bees are extremely limited and we are fearful that a small, clubbed antenna, beetle will be able to evade their scrutiny and be imported to the mainland.  We have started a parliamentary petition and we are asking you all to please sign it:   Petition: Stop the importation of honey bees into GB from the EU via Northern Ireland   In 2015, the Annual Delegates Meeting of the British Beekeepers Association,  which represents more than 25,000 beekeepers, said very cle...

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Donations from the BBKA Spring Convention for Beekeeping Research

Donations from the BBKA Spring Convention for Beekeeping Research If you are having a great time at the Spring Convention and consider it a bargain, or if more than one person in your household is sharing a registration to the Spring Convention and you would like to contribute further, then additional donations are very welcome.  Rather like the individual worker bee’s nectar load, every contribution, no matter how small, will contribute to the total.  Donations will enable the BBKA to support research to benefit bees and beekeepers. Recent BBKA supported projects have included: Air pollution and bees; Insecticides, fungicides & herbicides and bees; Plants and insect interactions.

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Viktor & The Honeymakers

Just came across https://www.honeymakers.co.uk/, and the associated site https://www.honeybeesuppliers.co.uk/ 

Viktor looks like a nice chap, and he's brainy, too: "Viktor has spent his life working with bees.  As a small boy growing up in Ukraine he learnt from his father how not to be a bad beekeeper and went on to take a degree in Zoology and Animal Science at Kiev University."

Anyway, "Viktor & The Honeymakers" would make a great band name... 

Making a mockery of it: BBKA Module Exams

Completed the mock exam test for the online BBKA Module Exams. Many congratulations to the BBKA for making online exams possible. Now the next thing is to swot up like crazy! 

Fondant

Even though a kind of spring has arrived in the UK, I am concerned even as the weather turns warm enough for the bees to fly and the queens to lay. Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) has blossomed and Hawthorn (Crataegus spp) will follow soon, and there are some daffs and jonquils (Narcissus spp) - but in my bones I am not convinced that there is enough forage for the expanding nest. 

All my hives have fondant packs, as insurance... 

Morden Hall Honey

Very snazzy labels. The weathervane is from Morden Hall Park stables.

Pheasant surprise

Sent by another beekeeper

 

Beegelina

According to The Daily Mail (so it must be true), Angelina Jolie has been named the 'godmother' of a new beekeeping programme, 2021 Women for Bees.

The scheme's goal is to have trained 50 women within the next five years, as well as building 2,500 hives in 25 Unesco biosphere reserves, and restocking 125 million bees.

So, ten beekeepers per year. Crikey.

Covid Safe Beekeeping Practicals

Firstly, all associations planning beekeeping training need to carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment. This needs to be assessed using current Covid Guidelines for your area. These may vary from time to time and region by region. It is your responsibility to ensure you comply with these guidelines and to keep up to date with them. The progression through the 'Road Map' needs to take into account the numbers of people allowed to meet and any 'hands face space' guidelines in force. Do not forget to count all trainers in the total numbers of people. https://ift.tt/3kUjftQ What to include in your COVID-19 risk assessment (PDF)- Portable Document Format. You must: identify what work activity or situations might cause transmission of the virus think about who could be at risk decide how likely it is that someone could be exposed act to remove the activity or situation, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk The HSE p...

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Serious Risk of Exotic Bee Pest Being Imported

Sunday 7 Mar 2021 Beekeeping Associations from around the UK are warning that import arrangements since Brexit are causing an imminent and serious risk that the exotic bee pest the Small Hive Beetle (SHB) could be introduced to the British Isles. They have put together a briefing note for the UK government and devolved administrations. It has been signed by the following organisations:  British Beekeepers Association  Welsh Beekeepers Association  Ulster Beekeepers Association  Scottish Beekeepers Association  Bee Diseases Insurance Ltd  Science Advisor Norman Carreck The notes says:  "There is clear evidence that the proposed transfer of bees from Northern Ireland to Great Britain is not part of a legitimate trade, but rather is a way to get around the law that prevents bees being imported into Great Britain. As such it is a breach of the law. "Ultimately this will need to be tested in court, but in the meantime, bees that are going to be sourc...

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Honigmayr

This amazing site is worth checking out: https://www.honigmayr.at/

Natural varroa-resistant bees

 Amazingly interesting talk by Isobel Grindrod PhD (https://www.linkedin.com/in/isobel-grindrod-3494431a7/) on varroa resistance.