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Good Maintenance will save you money and bees

With Spring nearly upon us, it's essential that you complete any outstanding cleaning of your beekeeping kit before it is used again. Hive parts will last a lot longer if they are repaired as soon as a problem appears, but if you haven't had the chance to patch things up at the time, make sure you do it soon. And remember, repairing is much easier when the parts are dry.

Beeswax Benefits Hoard Helmet

Staffordshire Hoard Helmet reconstruction. © Image Copyright Birmingham Museums Trust

Rugby Beekeepers Association were approached in 2018 by Pieta Greaves of Drakon Heritage and Conservation. They were looking for local beeswax that could be used in a project focusing on reconstructions of a high-status helmet contained within the Staffordshire Hoard. The project aimed to showcase how the original may have looked and to provide valuable research on the methods used in its construction and evidence of beeswax was found in the original objects during research in both the crest and on the lower design panel.

New feature - National Bee Unit News Feed

Rugby Beekeepers Association now provides a newsfeed service from the National Bee Unit's webite, BeeBase.

At the bottom of every page you will now find the latest news from BeeBase.

The newsfeed includes alerts and crucial information that every beekeeper should be aware of and is a valuable resource for us all.

St Andrew’s Festival of Christmas Trees

St Andrews parish church held their Festival of Christmas Trees event again and 2018's theme for the festival was ‘Eco and Recycling’. As always, the main purpose of this event is to raise funds for charities that support the local community. This year, in addition to the work of the church, Gift of Years, Rugby and Futures Unlocked were supported.

Branch Library

The branch has a good library containing many a good read.

If you want to borrow a book but are not able to come to a meeting, contact Gail Plester and she will try and arrange for you to pick up the book.

Read more: Branch Library

Beebase

Beebase Registrations

19 August 2019

Due to an IT problem there may be a delay in processing some Beebase registrations. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Reported Turkish bee has been identified as a UK native leafcutter bee

05 August 2019

DNA 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.