Integrated Pest Control: it does what it says on the tin!

We put in our Varroa floor at our home apiary a week ago, and checked it yesterday. Result.....only one mite after seven days! ONE mite! I call that a result for the common beekeeper! I think that that shows that Oxalic Acid at Christmas works. However, we have heard that many fellow beekeepers have lost colonies this winter, and locally, some have lost just about everything. That is really sad, and on a personal note, is upsetting. But we must all band together, learn from each other, and work (as the bees do) as one to defeat whatever is ailing all our bees! We are taking nothing for granted, and I fed the hive sugar syrup yesterday, and plan to do the same at the lottie in the next day or so. Our colleagues fed their bees 'Apifonda' during the winter, and their bees seem to be in excellent fettle, with a negligable Varroa count. Bravo LAAGS!

DEFRA register

We were contacted today via a local friend who informed us of a news piece on BBC Farming Today concerning bees. In essence it was a discussion on the merits of hobby beekeepers informing DEFRA that they are keeping hives. This therefore enables a database to be maintained and for hives to be inspected for disease by an approved inspector.
We have always maintained our place on the register and have therefore been inspected every year since keeping bees - but other people seem not to be quite to happy to do this!
If we are to control the rate of disease in our bees, surely a national database of hives is the sensible thing? What do you think?
Defra link https://secure.csl.gov.uk/beebase/
Farming Today link http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/farmingtoday/index.shtml where you can download a podcast of the bee piece or just listen via direct link on the site.

Save Our Bees Campaign!

Just found this link on the BBKA website, also on 'downsizer.net'. I would urge everyone to sign up!

The Bees of the Bank of England

When we were on our beekeeping course with James, I remember him mentioning that the Bank of England had played host to colonies of bees. The subject had come up a few times over the last few months and a search of Google seemed to point that there had been bees at the Bank of England, but with very little detail about what had really happened.

I work just down the road from the Bank of England and I've been meaning to wander down there at lunchtime for a while and see if I could find out some more. So, this lunchtime, I popped down to the Bank of England museum to enquire.

Actually, the museum is well worth a visit if you're in the area. I loved the opportunity to lift a gold bar on my palm (sadly, I could not take it home with me...) as well as reminiscing over the old banknote designs. But this is all about bees.

I explained to the attendant that I was a beekeeper and that I'd heard rumours of 'Bees at the Bank' and I wondered if she could tell me more?

And so she did! She knew the story instantly. A previous governor of the Bank of England, Robin Leigh-Pemberton was a beekeeper. In those days, the Governor had a flat 'above the shop' and whilst he lived there, he had hives of bees on the roof of the Bank. Leigh-Pemberton was Governor between 1983-1993.

The Bees of the Bank foraged in the City of London during that period.

The Hives in the Snow

With all the snow we've had this week, I thought I'd go to the allotments this morning and check the hives were ok. They looked fine - though at that time, the bees weren't flying. I don't blame them really.



What interested me about this picture was the tracks between the hives! Who goes there?

Newsworthy Article!

Hi!
Just caught this article on the net!