Dear Members,

This always seems a difficult time in the beekeeping calendar. I feel as though it requires a major juggling act to accomplish honey extraction, treating for varroa and ensuring, if they need to be, bees are fed.

While our hives are at their strongest in July/August, suddenly we are stripping them of stores and trying to reduce them to a single broodbox space in order to be able to treat for varroa without supers, while temperatures remain above 15 degrees centigrade . It feels a little like trying to squash the jack in the box back into a box which has suddenly become too small, all the time watching the clock ticking towards winter.

At the same time wasps are still very active and posing a threat to weak hives. I had one weak hive completely stripped by wasps despite having tried to reduce the entrance. When I came to see how they were getting on following a two week gap while I was occupied with family commitments, there was nothing left in the hive - all the combs empty of both stores and brood, just a sad jumble of bees on the floor.

Recently while visiting a National Trust outdoor cafe, I noticed an empty soft drink bottle with a small quantity of fluid in the bottom and a huge number of dead wasps half filling the bottle. Obviously once they had entered they were unable to make their way up the long slim tube of the bottle neck. A very effective wasp trap that didn’t appear to be trapping any other flying insects, unlike the purpose built wasp traps that seem to attract as many moths and other insects as wasps. How effective they would be for hornets is another matter.

The other pest that seems to have thrived this season is the wax moths - both the greater and lesser varieties. I heard that it has been a good year for butterflies and so it seems also for moths. They have survived in several colonies despite those colonies being quite strong, the pesky larvae of the greater wax moth chewing a line across sealed brood and burrowing into the wood of the broodbox. Storing supers and brood frames will be a challenge this year! I try to put the supers in the freezer for 48 hours before storing them ( I heard on Radio 4 that this is also recommended for dealing with clothes moths - killing eggs, larvae and adults). The old beekeepers also recommend storing supers with a layer of newspaper between each super. Perhaps the newsprint gives off a deterrent, or even helps to close the small gaps that the lesser wax moth is able to sneak through.

I do hope that everyone who has had a honey crop is planning to enter their honey in both the County and Rugby Honey Shows. I would urge anyone who can, to attend the County Honey show if only to take advantage of the lectures that are planned. Last year we had some world renowned researchers talking about their work on varroa and Chronic Bee Paralysis - all important topics as these are both pests and diseases we all need to deal with. I anticipate this year we will be treated to something of similar quality. Also the exhibits are amazing,and well worth a viewing, as are our own exhibits at the Rugby honey show in October. Do come along to both events.

Regards, Margaret Holdsworth