Visiting our Education Centre

We are delighted to be able to welcome schools to our Apiary Garden and Education Centre from Spring 2022.  With a focus on honeybees and beekeeping, we want to inspire children's natural curiosity in the world around them by offering free of charge educational visits in an inspirational learning environment.  We offer a range of fully supervised stimulating activities to fully engage children in learning beyond the classroom. We have a flexible programme of fun indoor and outdoor learning activities linked to the KS2 National Curriculum and can tailor the content for the specific needs and abilities of a particular class or group. YouTube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAtQQAiQwUI We offer a safe environment for classes to explore, discover and learn about honeybees and have fun! Excellent brand-new facilities including an apiary garden and pond, together with indoor and outdoor teaching classrooms DBS-checked/qualified teaching staff Ample free par...

from British Beekeepers Association https://ift.tt/3qjFb4U
via gqrds

What we can offer

We are delighted to be able to welcome schools to our Apiary Garden and Education Centre from Spring 2022.  With a focus on honeybees and beekeeping, we want to inspire children's natural curiosity in the world around them by offering free of charge educational visits in an inspirational learning environment.  We offer a range of fully supervised stimulating activities to fully engage children in learning beyond the classroom. We have a flexible programme of fun indoor and outdoor learning activities linked to the KS2 National Curriculum and can tailor the content for the specific needs and abilities of a particular class or group. YouTube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAtQQAiQwUI We offer a safe environment for classes to explore, discover and learn about honeybees and have fun! Excellent brand-new facilities including an apiary garden and pond, together with indoor and outdoor teaching classrooms DBS-checked/qualified teaching staff Ample free par...

from British Beekeepers Association https://ift.tt/3e7dLJV
via gqrds

Additional Resources

BBKA 'Bees in the Curriculum' Written for Key Stages 1 and 2, this teachers pack is a neat introduction to Bees and Minibeasts, Bee Products, The Beekeeper and Pollination. The online pdf resources pack has three sections containing many usable worksheets. The headings are: Understanding the world, Science, Science and the environment.  We have used scientific section headings for usability. This doesn’t mean a waggle dance could not be a PE lesson, or label design couldn’t become an art class! This is a free resource and open to all. Visit Bees in the Curriculum here 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 b...

from British Beekeepers Association https://ift.tt/3eby0Gm
via gqrds

Sticky mess

Last year my colonies were chewing through up to 500 g of fondant every week. In total, each colony polished off around 12 kg. 

This year, rather than replenish the hives every two weeks, I loaded one single fondant block of 12.5 kg (that's the pack size, no science here!) on the crown boards. 

Today I discovered that the principle is good, but the practice is bad. Last year's I used old food tubs, which hold the fondant in place nicely. This year I started with a nicely squared-off block in a plastic bag. But the bag doesn't do the same job as a tub, and the whole thing has subsided into a giant sticky mess on the top of each hive. 

Luckily, the bees seem not to mind. 

Algarve beekeeping in “state of calamity” due to wildfires and lack of support

 Excerpt:

The Alentejo and Algarve account for around 20% of Portugal’s beehives and produce over 1.1 tons of honey, much of which is exported. However, wildfires, climate change and droughts have taken a toll on production levels, explains Melgarbe expert Paulo Ventura.

“In the Algarve, 6,000 hectares housing around 3,500 beehives will be sterile for at least two years,” Ventura said, adding that between 700 and 800 beehives were lost in the Eastern Algarve’s fires last summer and that others are dying due to the harsh conditions.