Editorial
A belated happy new year to all Herts beekeepers.
There is lots of news this month and the new beekeeping season is just around the corner. We will be coping with swarms again in only 3 months time!
Firstly, the annual get-together for all HBKA members is advertised in the column on the right. As you can see, your executive has decided this year to keep the formal business matters to a bare minimum leaving plenty of time for socialising and to hear two fascinating talks. Please try and attend this year- it promises to be very different.
The major news in recent weeks is the announcement that extra government money is being made available for bee research. It probably won't be enough but it is a fantastic start. More on this below.
Also in the news the European Parliament has decided to phase out a number of controversial chemicals used in farming. Some of these have been implicated in recent bee losses so it can only be good news for beekeepers.
Possibly related, the Co-operative has announced that it is banning eight pesticides harmful to bees and donating £150,000 to bee research.
Two good causes are described this month. The first brings attention to saving our bees in the UK. The second is a charity to encourage beekeeping in the developing world.
How are your bees after this winter's big freeze, one of the longest on record. As I finish this newsletter, snow has been on the ground for a whole week. Our colonies will be running short of stores so keep hefting those hives and don't let our precious bees starve.
And finally, BuzzWorks has been elected to membership of the Special Interests Group of BBKA. Many congratulations Robin. All your hard work and dedication has paid off.
Paul Cooper
North Herts news by Christine Phillips
As a beekeeper for only three seasons I think it normal for bees to cohabit with varroa, but after staying in New Zealand this winter I now have a slight idea of the easy life you beekeepers of longer standing used to have. Varroa hasn't as yet been detected in the south of South Island NZ so no counting or estimating numbers of the little pests, no rush to fit in Autumn treatments before feeding and very little disease. Add in docile yellow NZ bees and it's an idyllic life! Still, maybe we need a challenge and on the whole the bees seem to survive. Don't forget our next meeting, February 17th at Howgills to hear how the Rothamstead researchers are progressing.
The third Tuesday in March (17th) will be our AGM and honey tasting.
April 21st we will be planning the summer apiary visits and have invited a speaker (tbc).
Bishops Stortford news by Frances Luck
The AGM is going to be held on 18th February at Little Cozens, Nether Street, Widford, SG12 8TH; may we say 7.30 pm for coffee and tea with a prompt 8.00 pm start for the meeting. If you have any items you would like to put on the agenda, may we please have them! We have a number of new "interested parties" coming along, with a promise that they will have the chance to ask "how difficult" "how often" "how much" and "how dangerous". Paul, Dennis and I will put together the Agenda before the meeting, so please dive in. I've asked for Carnica Bees to go on the Agenda; I love the idea of sweet-tempered bees.
Looking forward to seeing you all on the 18th, and assuring you in advance of a warm welcome.
Welwyn news by Peter Mathews
The Welwyn BKA AGM will be held on Wednesday, 18th March at 8.00pm at 3, Fearnley Rd, Welwyn Garden City. Please let me know if you intend coming.
Yet Another Reminder: Annual subscriptions were due 1st January. Huge thanks to all those paying early. We are shortly due to pay BBKA, HBKA and BDI subscriptions on your behalf. These cost us more than we get in from you. But, we are not prepared to pay for those who haven't paid up.
Meanwhile in the apiary. If we get a mild day, check out your hives. Any that feel light can be given supplementary feed. This should be a sugar fondant - recipe in the January edition of 'Bee Craft'. Do not lift the cover or inspect frames! It is far too cold and will chill the bees. Just remove the lid and place fondant directly over the hole in the crown board. If bees are not visible then slip off the board and quickly place the fondant directly on the frames.
Letter from Mrs Jean Ford (jean.ford(at)virgin.net)
I don't know if you could help me but I am researching my family tree and I am looking for relations of a William Taylor who made beehives at Welwyn North. The name Paterson Taylor is connected somewhere along the line. William Taylor was born 11 Sept 1876 in Tredington, Glos and had a son Frederick William Taylor who went to Welwyn to open a workshop. This workshop had a picture of a beehive and Taylors of Welwyn written on the building (side of a house). A relation Percy Stephens from Australia (a wellknown beekeeper from Inverell, Australia) visited the Taylors in 1970 and I have a photo of Percy shaking hands with a Paterson Taylor. I am writing to see if any members of your association can throw any light on the subject as I would have assumed that the Taylors would have placed advertisements in local beekeeping magazines. Any help would really be appreciated. I did put a story in the Welwyn Hatfield Times for information and I have had one reply from a man who remembers seeing the workshop when he travelled by train from Welwyn North to London to work. He also mentioned an advertisement in a book by Reverend Tickner Edwards "Beekeeping for profit" which he purchased in about 1975 about the Taylor beehive. Perhaps you could pass this message around your members in case someone remembers the beehives produced at the time. Many thanks.
South East Herts news by John Mumford
Not much is going on at the moment. The bees are doing very well despite the cold winter weather, just keeping their heads down and burning up their winter fuel. And it won't be long now before Queens start laying, when the bees start using up their remaining stores even more quickly - keep an eye on their reserves! Remember it's the big colonies that starve before the smaller ones.
During the recent cold weather the Woodpeckers have been having a go at the Hives, and once they start it is difficult to stop them. Old Onion sacks pinned to the crown boards and draped over and around the hive work well, but make certain that the entrances remain clear.
The AGM will be held at 8.00pm on Thursday 12th February at the Hoddesdon Baptist Church Hall, please make an effort, and show some support for your officers.
I still have a 30lb tub of association honey for sale.
BuzzWorks by Robin Dartington
There has been a shortage of warm days recently on which to check that bees are flying to void. So far, only a few dysenteric spots have appeared on the hives. Two very light colonies have been given a block of fondant on a queen excluder right above the cluster, and seem lively when the block has been lifted to check – but whether small lots can winter well in large hives is always a question. The old straw sleps were a better shape – as the cluster shrank and climbed up the combs, it remained compressed in the conical top of the skep. The top of a large square hive does not help a small cluster to keep the heat inside itself.
Construction continues with the Discovery Centre cabin now up and the Market Shelter under way.
The exhibition sponsor, Jordans Cereals, have appointed the agency Sledge to design the exhibition, working to a Vision Brief from BuzzWorks – a description of what the visitor should see as the tour proceeds.
The brief calls for five modules:
- Where you can find bees – in town and country (habitats)
- What bees are made of - the body of the bee
- Inside the home of the honeybee – observation hive
- The honeybee at work – visiting flowers for nectar/pollen and pollination
- Products of the hive – honey and pollen & wax (plus propolis & bee venom)
- Special exhibition: ‘The problems bees have – what you can do to help’
The Vision Brief asks for the information in each module to be presented in three stages: a model or object that can be touched; wall panels in three bands of increasing complexity (so that some information will be readily accessible to younger children whilst adults will also find information for their level of understanding); a cabinet with drawers containing ‘hidden’ information that can be ‘discovered’.
The first visual concepts by Sledge are attractive. The detailed design of each module now has to be worked up. BuzzWorks are supplying a draft Exhibition Guide to brief the copywriter on wording for the panels.
Honey Shortage
by Peter Mathews
BBKA estimate honey production in 2008 was only about 50% that of an average year. Many suppliers have already run out, or heading that way. This has been reflected in a big jump in price. The latest supermarket price for English honey is £5.70 / lb. This is a huge increase. Would love to know who is driving the price, supermarkets or Rowse. Presumably this price will drop again in late Spring. But the message remains - if you are selling below wholesale prices, then you are selling at a loss.
Building Up Stocks
by Paul Cooper
Following what is likely to be a bad winter for colony losses, there is a need to concentrate this year on building up stocks. Too many apiaries across Hertfordshire are depleted after years of losses. Numbers are dwindling and there are not enough new colonies for beginners. I appeal to all Herts beekeepers to focus this year on raising stocks. This means performing artificial swarms, creating nucs, making up queen rearing frames, etc. There is a trade-off between honey production and splitting colonies but for the sake of the future of Hertfordshire bees, I advocate that we need a concerted campaign to build up the numbers.
Robin Dartington of BuzzWorks has already written about this to the national press and is trying to gain county-wide support. It's time to work together across Hertfordshire to make 2009 the year of building up stocks. I urge all local branches to make this a goal for the year.
Good News for Bees
The European Parliament has long been pressing for controls on agrochemicals, despite opposition from some governments, especially Britain. The new measures are the result of a compromise between the two sides.
A list of 22 hazardous chemicals used in scores of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides will gradually be phased out. The chemicals will be given a further five years' grace if banning them would put crops in serious danger. Pesticide use is to be kept to "a minimum" in parks, playgrounds, schools and near hospitals. Aerial spraying will be banned unless given exceptional approval by safety authorities.
Industry will have to release the results of any studies that show harmful effects, and there is to be better protection for bees, whose numbers have been falling alarmingly across Europe.
More Good News for Bees
£4.3 million bee health funding increase announced
An extra £4.3 million to safeguard and undertake more research into the health of bees was announced by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today in a speech at the Royal Society of Chemistry. Mr Benn said that nearly £2.3 million over the next two years would support the work of the National Bee Unit in its efforts to help England’s beekeepers deal with the problems facing their bee colonies. This will include identifying all those who keep bees and providing expert advice to them on tackling pests and diseases and applying good husbandry.
In addition, Defra will put an extra £400,000 towards bee health research every year for the next five years. This extra funding – a total of £2 million – forms part of a comprehensive bee health strategy, which is under development. Over the last two years Britain’s bee colonies have suffered significant losses due to a combination of potential issues including the weather, the varroa mite, and other factors requiring further investigation by researchers. Mr Benn said: “Bees are vulnerable to a number of threats. Pests and diseases, when combined with poor summers can leave colonies unable to survive the winter. We must get to grips with this, to see just how serious a problem it is, what the impacts on pollination are, and what we can do in response.”
The Save Our Bees Campaign
As part of the celebrations of National Science and Engineering Week 2009 (6 -15 March), the Save Our Bees Campaign wants you to help save our UK Bees by planting bee friendly plants across the country! Planting is easy, good fun and educational - so please take part to help our bees! If you don't have a garden don't despair your help is just as valuable. Try and find a patch of unused ground, buy a flower pot or maybe a window garden where you can plant flowers, every extra plant is an extra snack for the bees! This will make them healthier, helping them survive infection, changing weather patterns and more.
Billions of the UK's bees are dying from unknown causes. One in three honey bee colonies in the UK were lost last winter alone. The UK's bumblebees are also suffering because there aren't enough wild flowers for them.
All bees need our support. Bees are vitally important for everyone. In all, they are responsible for pollinating one-third of all the foods we eat!
You can help our bees. Register your interest on this website (www.saveourbees.org.uk) and receive a FREE pack of seeds and a pack of activities for children.
Bees for Development
Bees for Development is an independent organisation founded in 1993. We are an information service working at the heart of an international network of people and organisations involved with apiculture in developing countries. The organisation is made up of two partner institutions.
Bees for Development Trust is our charity which raises money with the aim of alleviating poverty by means of beekeeping. The Trust meets its objectives by supporting the work of Bees for Development, the implementing partner.
Bees for Development carries out a range of activities which help beekeepers to do more and better beekeeping, in order to build sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families.
Why is there a need for Bees for Development?
We take a global view of beekeeping, especially that carried out by poor and marginalised beekeepers in developing countries. This means we have unique insights into the trends and challenges of this neglected sector and can provide the hub of a valuable sharing and learning network for the beekeeping community.
There are other NGOs who support beekeeping but these NGOs often come to us for advice and information, as often beekeeping is a secondary activity for them. National governments in some countries have beekeeping institutions and extension services but gradually these are being closed and eroded through under funding. Beekeeping is difficult to categorise, unlike mainstream agriculture, and is often overlooked as a marginal poor-persons activity not worthy of investment and attention. This is the main impetus for the work of Bees for Development.
The Co-operative prohibits eight pesticides as part of 'Plan Bee'
The Co-operative today (28 January 2009) became the first UK retailer to prohibit the use of a group of eight pesticides as part of a radical new ten-point plan designed to help reverse the worrying decline in the British honeybee population.
Launching Plan Bee, The Co-operative announced that it would expand its market-leading pesticide policy and temporarily prohibit the use of all eight of the neonicotinoid family of chemicals on own-brand fresh produce.
These chemicals have been implicated in honeybee colony collapse and restricted elsewhere in Europe (although not as yet in the UK), and as a precautionary measure The Co-operative Food will engage with suppliers to eliminate their usage where possible, and until such a time as they are shown to be safe.
In addition, as part of its ten-point plan, The Co-operative will make available £150,000 for research into the decline of the honeybee. This is the UK’s largest ever private donation for bee research, and will pay particular attention to UK farming practices, the impact of pesticides and the restricted gene pool bees are derived from. In the spring of 2009, The Co-operative Farms will commence a three-year research project that will seek to identify the optimal mix of wildflowers that can be sown (in field margins and on “set-aside” land) to attract and support honeybees.
Another crucial part of Plan Bee will be awareness raising and education. The Co-operative will support the distribution of a dramatic new film that highlights the global decline in bee populations and the possible reasons behind the collapse. Over January and February, previews of the film will be shown to Co-operative members at forty locations around the UK. It will be released in cinemas across the country later in 2009.
At many of the film showings, Co-operative customers and members will receive advice on bee-friendly gardening from the RSPB, and at all they will receive free packets of specially mixed wildflower seeds and access to subsidised bee boxes and other equipment.
Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals at The Co-operative said: ”Nature’s number one pollinating machine appears to be breaking down and no one knows for sure why. But it’s not just pretty gardens that are at stake; one third of the average diet relies on honeybees. Last week the Government finally accepted that there was a problem, however, we are still not seeing any real recognition that pesticides could be a contributory factor.
“The great thing, though, is that we can all do our bit to turn things around. Whether it’s a lush rural retreat or tiny urban window box, we can plant and garden in ways that help the honeybee thrive. At The Co-operative we have more than three million members and we hope to educate and empower them to be ambassadors for Plan Bee.”
Simon Press, Senior Technical Manager at The Co-operative Group said: “The Group has been working with its suppliers since 2001 to reduce pesticide use and already has a market-leading pesticide policy, which prohibits the use of 98 pesticides. We believe that the recent losses in bee populations need definitive action and as a result are temporarily prohibiting the eight neonicotinoids pesticides until we have evidence that refutes their involvement in the decline.”
The ten-point Plan Bee is as follows:
- The Co-operative Food will temporarily prohibit the use of neonicotinoid-based pesticides on own-brand fresh produce. These are Acetamiprid, Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, Fipronil, Imidacloprid, Nitenpyram, Thiacloprid and Thiamethoxam.
- £150,000 will be made available to support research into the demise of the honeybee, with a particular focus on UK farming, pesticides and gene-diversity. The largest ever private contribution to bee research in the UK.
- Over three years, The Co-operative Farms will trial a new wildflower seed mix that will be planted alongside crops on its farms across the UK. The Co-operative Farms is the UK’s largest farmer with more than 25,000 hectares of land under management.
- Co-operative Farms will invite beekeepers to establish hives on all Co-operative Farms in the UK.
- The Co-operative will engage its three million members in a campaign to protect and nurture the bee population in the UK, with advice and tips featuring on its website.
- Members will be invited to attend one of forty screenings of a special preview from a forthcoming film that addresses the decline of the worldwide bee population and the significance of the bee in food production. In addition, The Co-operative has also commissioned a new bespoke documentary on the decline of the bee population in the UK.
- The Co-operative will partner with RSPB’s “Homes for Wildlife” Team and empower members to garden in ways that are honeybee-friendly.
- An initial 20,000 packets of wildflower seed mix will be made available to members free of charge.
- Bee boxes are being sourced and made available to Co-operative members at discounted prices.
- The Co-operative will support its members and colleagues to find out more about amateur beekeeping and will encourage links between local beekeepers and members
Bee News from Brussels
No news yet from our Member of the European Parliament for the East of England, Geoffrey Van Orden. But I am hoping that he will reply shortly having sent him a reminder.
Vandals get their Comeuppance
by Simon Peltenburg
Just to let you know, my 2 hives were attacked by vandals in December. Both hives were knocked over and several frames destroyed. The losses were considerable owing to the extreme cold (I think they had been overturned for a few days by the time I found them).
The one consolation is that the bees were absolutely furious (I was stung well over 40 times from bees that had only stung me twice in the past 2 years) and the vandals were probably quite badly hurt.
Cambridgeshire Beekeepers’ Association One Day Seminar
Towards Topless Beekeeping, Saturday 14 March 2009. Professor Stephen Martin: "Current advances in bee virology"; David Kemp: "Selecting for and rearing docile bees as an individual and group activity"; Roger Patterson: "A management system with honey production colonies and "support "colonies". Professor Peter Lachmann: "Allergic reactions of humans to bee and wasp stings". We will have a trade stand. Adult tickets £15 (price includes salad plate lunch and lunch-time drinks). [Young people (age 14 to 18, inclusive) £8.] A vegetarian option can be provided, by prior arrangement. Cheques payable to Cambridgeshire Beekeepers’ Association. David J. Abson, 6 Ascham Lane, Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire, CB22 4NT. 01223 834 620 (SAE appreciated).
Herts Bees Housekeeping
This is a plea to all members in Hertfordshire. Please can you check the website at www.hertsbees.org.uk and let me have any updates. In particular:
- Do you wish to be added or removed from the Herts Bees emailing list?
- Has you local branch set meeting dates for the year to go onto the Calendar page?
- Are the swarm officers correct on the Help! page?
- We now have over 30 places to buy honey in Hertfordshire. Are any changes required to the map on the Help! page?
- Do you have any more tips to go on the Bee Tips page?
- With election of officers taking place at this time of year, are all of the contact details correct on the Contact HBKA page?
It is not easy keeping the website up to date so I am grateful for all feedback. Many thanks.