Going Dutch

This is a Google translate of a news item here https://www.bijenhouders.nl/ontwikkeling-aziatische-hoornaar/ontwikkelingen-aziatische-hoornaar-in-nederland/ 

The factor column shows how successful the Asian hornet is; typically 5 times as many nests each year.

February 12, 2026

More than 10,000 nests reported in 2025 on waarneming.nl

Over the past year, more than 10,000 nests of Asian hornets were reported in the period from April to December. That is 4.6 times more than the number of reported nests last year (2,204). The increase in the number of nests is particularly visible in the south of the country, but also in provinces such as North Holland and Utrecht. If similar growth continues this year, nearly 20,000 nests are to be expected in the province of North Brabant alone, and 10,000 in the province of Limburg.

                                                     

National Lottery Community Fund

More news from the Department of Applied Stupidity, this time at the National Lottery Community Fund:

An estimated 4.5 million adults across the UK are unable to access nature at all, according to new research from Censuswide commissioned by The National Lottery Community Fund.

What, exactly, does the phrase 'unable to access nature at all' mean? A sniff of air from an open window would presumably count as 'access to nature,' and unless you're kept in a windowless dungeon...

Anyway, let's just stick with the reality of the National Lottery itself: It Won't Be You.

https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/news/45-million-unable-to-access-nature-at-all-despite-demand-for-green-prescriptions

National Honey Day

The BBKA has launched a new logo (well, two new logos) for National Honey Day on 21 October.

The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) is proud to announce the celebration of National Honey Day on 21st October, a nationwide initiative to spotlight the golden goodness of local British honey and the dedicated beekeepers who produce it.

This year’s theme is simple and powerful: Buy Local Honey!

Whether from a neighbourhood beekeeper, farm shop, market stall or independent retailer, choosing local honey supports British bees, biodiversity, livelihoods and the craft of beekeeping.

“We want everyone to experience the joy of tasting the spring and summer through honey. Each jar of local honey tells a unique story - of flowers like hedgerow bramble, clover, heather or lime - and the weather that shaped the season,” said Diane Drinkwater, President of the BBKA.

Despite the UK’s rich beekeeping heritage, only around 14 per cent of the honey consumed domestically is produced here.

More honey drizzle here: https://www.bbka.org.uk/news/national-honey-day

Honey laundering

Excellent article in Chemistry World, September 2026: https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/the-sticky-problem-of-detecting-fake-honey/4023882.article

Amazon running low on The Beekeeper's Dictionary

Amazon running low on the one-and-only perfect gift for a beekeeper, The Beekeeper's Dictionary

• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beekeepers-Dictionary-Compendium-Definitions-Explanations/dp/1836884168/

Or you could support Thorne & Co:

• https://www.thorne.co.uk/books-education-gifts/books-magazines/uk-books/beekeepers-dictionary.html

Artificial Intelligence to Revolutionise Beekeeping

Well worth a read: https://news.broadcastmediaafrica.com/2026/09/03/bma-feature-kenyan-researchers-harness-artificial-intelligence-to-revolutionise-beekeeping/ 

The technologies are reasonably commonplace, such as the LoRaWAN, and the AI part is close to being standard. From recollection, there is a similar system in the UK.

Hungary's bee population at risk, warns national beekeepers' association

Full story here: https://www.euronews.com/2026/08/30/hungarys-bee-population-at-risk-warns-national-beekeepers-association 

Website for the National Hungarian Beekeeping Association: https://www.omme.hu/

Hot honey

Much as I like spicy (though not necessarily hot) food, I'm not convinced that adding Scotch Bonnet peppers to borage honey is a great idea. But then again, if people like it and buy it, so much the better, I guess.

Full story here: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/peckham-honey-queen-makes-10-110000015.html

Research questions old bee assumptions

Research from the University of Freiburg, Germany, appears to show that bees follow individual flight paths when foraging.

My summary: The waggle dance is imprecise ("there's nectar about X distance away at this approximate bearing") but when an individual bee has found a nectar source it can navigate very accurately to-and-from the source.

Here's one of the diagrams from the paper. 

On the left, the purple lines are next to the green lines. In the middle, the four sets of green lines are labelled blue,
green, orange and yellow. Are you paying attention? Some of the flights are from the hive (outbound) and some of the
flights are to the hive (inbound), which is a relief for all concerned.

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)00084-9 

Researchers from the University of Sussex publish new learnings that beekeepers already know

Yep, a study from the University of Sussex has discovered that honeybees struggle to gather nectar in late July and in August. 

In other news, the Pope is said to be Catholic, and ursines are known to defecate in sylvan areas.

Read the research here: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70429 

A 60-year-old theory about ants, bees and wasps may be wrong

How about this: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260813045552.htm 

In short, being a social insect is probably only partly explained by genetics and may be explained by biology - which is, of course, explained by, er, genetics.

From another context, "I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that..."

Asian Hornet in Portugal

Plenty of Asian hornets in Porto, Portugal, buzzing us both in the centre of town and in the botanical gardens.

Waggle dance may be part genetic, part learning

Early research based on a very small sample of five colonies with five control colonies: ecoportal.net/en/experiments-waggle-dancer-found-every-american/30786/

Researchers raised 5 colonies of young bees with no experienced dancer to copy, and the waggle dance those bees invented carried a distance error they never corrected in 38 days of life

Read up on the waggle dance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waggle_dance

France permits use of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone

Draw votre own conclusions...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/26/french-beekeepers-fury-lifting-of-pesticides-ban

Japanese Fossil Bee Fills Two-Million-Year Gap in Honeybee History

Another nail in the Intelligent Design coffin: https://www.sci.news/paleontology/apis-aibai-14949.html 

Beautiful honey from The Bee Farm in Cephalonia

Beautiful honey from The Bee Farm in Cephalonia

https://www.facebook.com/melikefalonias/photos

The Disneyfication of Fortnum & Mason

Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne, now Disneyfied at Fortnum & Mason. 

A. A. Milne kept bees.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne

Bumbling photo

Nice story, shame about the photo

Nice work if you can get it

The experience of bees is probably easier than the keeping of bees!

https://www.fulhampalace.org/whats-on/events/beekeeping-experience-7/

Pollination station: our Blackburn Meadows energy plant is abuzz with new neighbours

Bee-washing story from E.ON: https://news.eonenergy.com/news/pollination-station-our-blackburn-meadows-energy-plant-is-abuzz-with-new-neighbours 

A pity the copywriter didn't go full throttle for the bee wordage. For example: A new building has joined E.ON’s design award-winning Blackburn Meadows renewable energy park – but while this one is also a real hive of activity, it won’t be dominating the Sheffield skyline as much. That’s because the biomass (or should that be bee-omas?) power station has welcomed its first hives, giving thousands of pollinators a home as part of its work to support the local environment.

The final few jars of last year's crop

 

https://mellifica.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beekeepers-Dictionary-Compendium-Definitions-Explanations/dp/1836884168/

https://www.thorne.co.uk/books-education-gifts/books-magazines/uk-books/beekeepers-dictionary.html

Edinburgh Honey Co

Came across this site: Edinburgh Honey Co, https://miod.co/

'Miod' is Polish for 'mead,' obviously.

Honey labelling at its finest!

 

Bee-Skep Making: Heritage, folklore and how to make and use your own skeps

Though I am not a fan of skeps, this new book by Chris Park looks superb:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bee-Skep-Making-Heritage-folklore-skeps/dp/1789943302/

Conflict leaves Lebanese beekeeper cut off from most of his hives

Excellent, if sad, photostory here: https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/lebanon-border-bees-photo-gallery-80dac1d43c5dfd645799a2cdd218d76b#:~:text=Since%20the%20conflict%20between%20Israel,near%20his%20hometown%20of%20Hasbaya.

Millions of bees get loose after truck carrying 400 hives crashes in Texas

For some reason, the second pic makes me think of "Where's Wally?"

Reported here and in many other places: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bees-escape-truck-hives-crashes-texas/

Back in stock! The Beekeeper's Dictionary

The perfect gift for a beekeeper, available from Amazon, Thorne's, and Northern Bee Books

• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beekeepers-Dictionary-Compendium-Definitions-Explanations/dp/1836884168/
• https://www.thorne.co.uk/books-education-gifts/books-magazines/uk-books/beekeepers-dictionary.html
• https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/ (except I cannot find it on the site!)

Apparently, honeybees can recognize human faces

Apparently, honeybees can recognize human faces — they can be trained to distinguish between individual humans by face and continue to recognize them across different viewpoints, despite having a brain smaller than the head of a pin!

https://spacedaily.com/d-honeybees-can-recognize-human-faces-they-can-be-trained-to-distinguish-between-individual-humans-by-face-and-continue-to-recognize-them-across-different-viewpoints-despite-having-a-brain-sm/

From Struggle to Success: One Beekeeper’s Story

For some reason, this story really appeals: beekeeping in Liberia.

https://gnnliberia.com/amp/from-struggle-to-success-one-beekeepers-story/

Dead Bees Still Sting

Published 28 May by Greystone Books https://greystonebooks.com/

“I loved every gorgeously-written and surprising page.”—Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus

“Come for the bees, stay for these beautifully written observations.”—Booklist, STARRED review

“Evocative and lyrical.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Bees-Still-Sting-Nature/dp/1778402011/

The RHS and The King's Foundation Curious Garden

Spot the skep....

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Anne

Princess Anne visits the Deaf Academy, Exmouth https://thedeafacademy.ac.uk/

The visit ended with 12-year-old Eco School representative Ivy presenting The Princess Royal with a jar of Royal Deaf Education Trust honey from the Academy’s own beehives.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/princess-anne-praises-deaf-academy-080400476.html

Sir David Attenborough

The idea that the pollen 'jumps' from flower to bee is cute. Note that when a positively charged bee visits a negatively charged flower and the electric field is neutralised or reduced, the flower doesn't "send a signal;" it's merely that the electric field is neutralised or reduced, which a bee may be able to detect.  Does the lack of negative field from a flower affect bee behaviour? Is the electric field effect strong enough to draw (as in attract) bees to flowers. Odd that Sir D talks about pollen transfer being affected by the electric field, and concludes that the reduced electric field after a bee's visit is a signal about nectar.

Trampoline

Bee swarms choose comedy locations:

Full story here: https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/peterborough-family-discovers-huge-bee-swarm-clinging-to-their-trampoline-as-local-beekeepers-offer-advice-on-what-to-do-if-you-find-one-8298611

BBKA Spring Convention 2026

Very enjoyable BBKA Spring Convention 2026 last weekend, with an outstanding array of tutors offering seminars and lectures. Massive thank-you to the organiser, Joyce Nisbet & Team.

Coming up this weekend: The BBKA Spring Convention 2026

Hive & Keeper Honey Club

Here's a really good idea: Hive & Keeper - Extraordinary British Honey and Homewares 

https://www.hiveandkeeper.com/ 

There's a Honey Club, too (details below), plus a shop with more honeys as well as some beautiful products. The hand-carved birch spoons are amazing.

https://www.hiveandkeeper.com/collections/the-collection/products/british-birch-hand-carved-eating-spoon

How the Honey Club works

Our honey subscriptions are perfect for those who enjoy discovering honeys straight from small scale British beekeepers delivered straight to their door. Here's how it works:

• Limited edition British honeys from small scale beekeepers
• Size of jars: 224g / 8oz
• Delivery: Every 1,2,3,4,5 or 6 months, you choose
• Number of jars each delivery: 1, 2, 3 or 4 you choose 
• Free postage and the story of the beekeepers
• We email you information about each honey too.

Red-tailed bumble bees are the bad guys

Fluffy and adorable, red-tailed bumble bees, Bombus lapidarius, are ... flying virus-vectors!

https://phys.org/news/2026-03-red-tailed-bumblebees-key-hosts.html

Credit: Uni Halle / Patrycja Pluta

Pemberley Natural History Books

Came across this bookstore, with its specialist section on bee-keeping: https://www.pemberleybooks.com/subject/bee-keeping/52/

Opening Hours

Customers are welcome to come and view our stock at the Iver shop, however, if there are specific books you wish to see it is advisable to contact us in advance as some stock is held at offsite storage.

• Monday - Friday : 9.30am - 5pm
• Saturday : 11am - 3pm (please ring to confirm we are open)
• Other times by appointment

---

Our Contact Details

Pemberley Books
18 Bathurst Walk,
Iver,
Buckinghamshire,
SL0 9AZ,
U.K.

Telephone: +44 (0)1753 631114

West Country Honey Farms Award

Dr Richard Bache, a master beekeeper, National Diploma in beekeeping holder, and practising Somerset GP, has been named the winner of the West Country Honey Farms Award 2026.

Congratulations!

Read more: https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/25933222.somerset-beekeeper-wins-west-country-honey-farms-award/

Bees for Development

Neat piece on Bees for Development here: https://nation.cymru/feature/the-power-of-bees-a-welsh-charitys-global-mission/

Dominica Does It Right

Prime Minister of Dominica, Dr Roosevelt Skerrit, has said that the Dominican Government will build and equip a modern facility to help in areas like production, bottling and packaging of honey.

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer, kindly note...

Bicester-based A & T Hives

We love a good "Beekeepers helping to raise awareness of threats to honeybees" story.

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/25822951.bicester-business-raising-awareness-threats-bees/

https://www.facebook.com/p/A-T-Hives-100095532187024/

Props to THE IRISH NEWS

Gotta hand it to THE IRISH NEWS for bee-related coverage:

https://www.irishnews.com/life/making-skincare-has-become-my-creative-outlet-how-a-co-down-woman-turned-her-beekeeping-hobby-into-a-thriving-beauty-business-4IGD4WM7OJHRHGXNOYOXRANTRE/

‘The Beekeeper 2’ is on the way...

The Beekeeper 2 is due out in early 2027 

Dirty Gloves Award 2026 - an early contender in Meghan Markle

From Ms Markle's Instagram account:

Amateur beekeeper dies from sting after failing to wear protective gear

Alan Ransom, 55, from Ventnor on the Isle of Wight, died on 15 May 2024. Senior coroner Caroline Sumeray stated the cause of death as hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and anaphylactic shock, directly resulting from a severe reaction to a bee sting having failed to wear a protective hat.

Amazon

A heartwarming story of community cohesion from Dunfermline, Scotland: https://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/25668737.dunfermline-amazon-workers-take-beekeeping-aid-green-aims/

No doubt Mr Ross Main & Co were cajoled into the photo-opp by the journalist; what on earth is going on?

Suggestions for a suitable caption are invited...