Category Archives: General beekeeping
Grim statistics – and a few positive initiatives.
I belong to two beekeeping associations and the first one has written about the winter losses for 2012/2013 and put it in context over the last 5 years figures. It is grim reading and reflects what I have heard from … Continue reading
Posted in Forage plants, Bee life, General beekeeping, Winter, Lavender, Beekeepers in Winter
Tagged garden, MBBKA, pollinator, bee friendly, hedges, wild plants
Leave a comment
Bedlam revisited – successfully treated all hives now
If you are at all cowardly (and I admit I am) going back to the scene of failure and a wee bit of scariness, is a hard step to take. However, it had to be taken. I decided to wear … Continue reading
Posted in Clothes and accessories, Costs, General beekeeping, Suppliers, Winter
Tagged all-in-one, Bee Basic, beesuit, black bees, boots, hood, HWBKA, secure, sting, Thornes, velcro, zip
1 Comment
Just a modicum of success and a beekeeping disaster
I’ve been waiting for a suitable opportunity to do the oxalic acid treatment and feed if necessary. It has been very cold and damp but yesterday was to have a milder day with some sun. I practised using the container … Continue reading
Posted in Bee life, General beekeeping, Stings
Tagged holes in beesuit, oxalic treatment, varroa
6 Comments
A cake and a prize, both skep shaped.
I couldn’t resist buying a silicone cake mould in the shape of a skep. The resulting cake looked OK. And it wasn’t long before I heard I had won a prize – complete with my name engraved on it! I … Continue reading
Posted in 2012 season, Apiary layout, General beekeeping
Tagged cake, HWBKA, prize, skep, skep cake mould
4 Comments
Awe and wonder by the flowerful – not enough in our classrooms.
Ready for some awe and wonder? Look here http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/pollination.html short videos of such beauty – if you are a teacher, try them as your students settle at the beginning of a lesson. There is even one captioned in French for … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, Forage plants, Bee life, Bee curious, Background, Hughenden Manor Project, Forage, Garden area, General beekeeping, Honey, Natural world, night foraging, Bee Photography
Tagged awe, bats, Bees, birds, butterflies, chroma key, communicate, create, curriculum, Education, flowers, pollen, pollination, prescriptive, stop motion, video, Wonder
Leave a comment
A couple of IMPORTANT blog links/ tweets!
http://lenashareef.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/girlwithabook two girls have had the idea of asking people to send in photos of themselves reading books in support of Malala Yousafzai the girl who was shot by the taliban because of her belief in the right to … Continue reading
Posted in Educational opportunities, General beekeeping, Honey, Produce, Uncategorized
Tagged buy books, Education, female, freedom, independence, Malala, protest
Leave a comment
It has been a while …Floriade, be a bee, geocaching all comes together
My visit to Floriade and subsequent excitement following the tagged bees has been documented before. My ‘friends’ Wilke and Marjon, and Naomi and Jenny and their trips to collect pollen or nectar occupied hours of my time. I am not … Continue reading
Posted in Bee life, Bee curious, Hughenden Manor Project, Forage, Garden area, Educational opportunities, General beekeeping, Analysis of live bee data from tagged bees, Fun events
Tagged hive, Bees, pollen, swarm, garden, nectar, geocache, muggle, treasure, container, magic, log, GPS, map coordinates, map, adventure, family
1 Comment
Persistent poppies
There is something both mysterious and magical about the explosions of poppies you sometimes see at this time of the year. Today I caused Emily, the voice of my Sat Nag a few moments of confusion when I decided to … Continue reading
Posted in Forage plants, General beekeeping, Natural world, Uncategorized
Tagged Bicester, Oil seed Rape, pollen, poppy
Leave a comment
The rooftops of London … high class hives!
I can’t believe I have only just found this as it dates from 2009. Worth a look
Posted in Bee life, Forage, Garden area, General beekeeping, Honey, Beekeepers
Tagged queen, Bees, frame, London, roofs, local variation, fortnum and mason's, oak hives
Leave a comment
Devilishly cunning
I was reading various ideas about how people could try and get bees out of chimneys and other awkward places. The ingenuity is absolutely staggering. Once you can see an entrance / exit hole the key is to create from … Continue reading
Posted in Bee life, General beekeeping
Tagged bait hive, catch, cone, inaccessible, queen, Remove bees, trap out
Leave a comment
