August 2019
Dear Member
Well, for many this has been a good year for honey production and most of you who are getting a honey crop this year will no doubt have extracted your honey and be enjoying the fruits of your, and the bees, labour.
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July 2019
Dear Member
‘A swarm in May is worth a load of hay, a Swarm in June is worth a silver spoon, a swarm in July is not worth a fly’ goes the old adage. While the currency referred to is somewhat outdated, the principle that an early swarm will give you a good return, and a late one will mean that you need to put resources into preserving that swarm, is still relevant.
June 2019
Dear Member
The swarming season always throws up an interesting array of phone calls about bees and this year has been no exception despite BBKA’s improved information about what constitutes a swarm. Most of the calls I have had this year have been from people with bees already lodged in the fabric of buildings, or bumble bees. Several swarms were reported, but by the time I was ready to collect they had also departed, hopefully not into someone else’s chimney.
May 2019
Dear Member
Perhaps you were as confused as I was between the Coloss colony loss survey and the BBKA survey from Leigh Sidaway. Hope you managed to do both as the information for Coloss will go towards a Europe wide survey whereas the BBKA one is UK wide. A bit like Brexit talks, it would be good if they could co-operatate and co-ordinate their efforts.
April 2019
Dear Member
April is usually the time when temperatures are high enough, and there is forage around, for a first inspection to be less disruptive to the bees, but with a warm dry February and then some high temperatures in March it seems that many colonies are already building up strongly and we can anticipate an early swarming season as a result. Apparently Winnie the Pooh made the very apt remark that “you can never tell with bees”- something that anyone who has ever kept bees will concur with.
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Beebase Registrations
19 August 2019Due to an IT problem there may be a delay in processing some Beebase registrations. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
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Reported Turkish bee has been identified as a UK native leafcutter bee
05 August 2019DNA barcoding analysis of a suspect sample of Osmia spp. from Turkey has confirmed it to be a native UK species of leafcutter bee, Megachile centuncularis.
The UK has a diverse variety of native bees and we encourage members of the public to seek identification of bee species through the many groups and societies with a particular interest in entomology such as; The ‘BWARS’ (Bees Wasps and Ants Recording Society) Facebook page, https://www.royensoc.co.uk/identifying-insects or https://www.nhm.ac.uk/take-part/identify-nature.html. Sightings may be recorded with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; https://www.brc.ac.uk/irecord/enter-casual-record.
We encourage the reporting of non-native species identified by interest groups or members of the public. Guidance on where to report this information can be found on the GB Non-native Species Secretariat (GB NNSS) website (www.nonnativespecies.org/recording). The Government will then take action in accordance with the GB Invasive Non-native Species Strategy to minimise the risks they pose to our flora and fauna. We encourage everyone who travels abroad to check luggage especially if it has been kept outside during their trip. If you do spot a stowaway upon your return to the UK you should report it with the dates and places you went on holiday, and ideally a photo of the insect via the GB NNSS website. -
Asian hornet in New Milton, Hampshire
03 July 2019
The National Bee Unit has today (Wednesday 3 July 2019) confirmed a sighting of an individual, female Asian hornet in New Milton, Hampshire, after it was reported by a member of the public. Based upon visual examination, the hornet is likely to be a queen.
Further information can be found here.