Mellifera or Bombis in trouble?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/29/alarming-link-between-fungicides-and-bee-declines-revealed

Normal for Suffolk?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-42354947

Rivers across the country are "chronically polluted" with pesticides believed to pose a threat to bee populations, a report has found.

The River Waveney on the Norfolk/Suffolk border was found to have the highest levels of neonicotinoids in the UK.

The River Wensum in Norwich, and the River Tame in the West Midlands were also named among the most polluted.

A growing number of studies have linked the pesticides to problems for bees.

According to figures from UK monitoring data by the European Environment Agency, 88% of sites in Britain were contaminated with neonicotinoids.

Mumbai's lone beekeeper?

Quite an old post, from 2015, on the Sunday Farmer blog. I shall be in Mumbai, and if I have the opportunity will check on the veracity of his lonesomeness.

https://sundayfarmer.wordpress.com/2015/11/26/mumbais-only-bee-keeper/

Neonics News

As reported by the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41512791, and you can find the original article here: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6359/109

An Inspector Calls

European Foul Brood was discovered in an apiary less than 3 km from our location. The Bee Inspector gave us the all-clear at Cannizaro Park, adding, ominously, that it was not "if" but "when" EFB arrives in our colonies...

Image credit By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24920366

As usual, I fail to rest my case

https://honeybeesuite.com/the-queen-excluder-controversy-some-things-never-change/

Completely ineffectual

This year I have been keeping my bees without a Queen excluder. The result is that all the bees are living in the top of the hives and the brood box down below is almost empty. With far more bees in each hive than expected at this time of year, I have not taken off the supers. What next?

Famous beekeepers that don't keep bees

The Guardian online shows an article from 2014 entitled

The 10 best famous beekeepers

(Does that headline even make sense?)

Anyway, continuing The Guardian's high tradition of idiocy, the first line of the article comments on Vince Cable: "The business secretary and Liberal Democrat politician doesn’t keep bees."

If you'd like to read more about 'best famous beekeepers' that don't keep bees, here's the link: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/jul/04/the-10-best-famous-beekeepers

Saving the bees with big data

Saving the bees with big data

Saving The Bees with Big Data and RFID Tags
By Dean Evans, Technology Writer

It is estimated that the annual global crop pollination by bees is worth a staggering £138bn, but bee numbers are in decline. Data analysis is being used to discover why, but how do you track something as small as a bee?







https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/it-management/caa-hub/save-bees-with-big-data.html?utm_campaign=CCG-BIZ-EMEA-UK-amazingstories-Q317&utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=social&utm_content=LinkedInNature5image&cid=CCG-BIZ-EMEA-UK-amazingstories-Q317

More "naked" beekeeping

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-41127644/how-long-could-you-sit-covered-in-bees

Naked beekeeping

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/beekeeper-sits-bare-bum-beehive-11086964

I'd wear a bee suit..

https://youtu.be/yK5CnQwuDBw

Flow hive

As a fundamentally lazy person, the Flow Hive looks interesting to me... Video from http://beeliciousbees.blogspot.co.uk/

Honey: A Sensual Journey

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/travel/noel-patterson-hotel-beekeeper-honey-education.html

Do we have too much time on our hands? "Mr. Patterson harvests honey from hives on the property for spa treatments."

Best honey in the world

This modestly named blog http://worldbesthoney.blogspot.co.uk/ may be worth a visit

The Bumbling Beekeeper

Keeping up with the alliterative beekeeper blog theme: http://www.bumblingbeekeeper.com/

Sticky Fingers

http://fasterlouder.junkee.com/sticky-fingers-banned-from-venue-for-disgusting-behaviour/840163

If you fancy extracting someone else's honey, here's the answer: http://walworthgarden.org.uk/events/2017/7/15/the-honey-harvest

I admire the £50 charge to do someone else's sticky work.

More neonickery

Worth listening to the first 22 minutes of this episode of BBC Radio 4's Inside Science show, presented by Dr Adam Rutherford: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08wmk5x

Over 90 degrees and they're bearding

This caught my eye, from http://cpbwarre.blogspot.co.uk/

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWd8aSEwMBhT0W4JegbOurhQphHYVzTqu1I_LdtXGuvjZpr1KL5b6OLr6hU6Zv7ohEgCf8ek2XKoc527mzkQVyGB_MUGDWeP9tQITShtmQScZsZntx0sX2UL61WaCFGWolPYlZvQ/s1600/IMG_5079.mp4

In conclusion, or inconclusion, on neonicotinoids

Following an in-depth study of the effect of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees, the conclusion is "Er, dunno."

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40382086 and the full report http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6345/1393

Smoking kills

An ancient beekeeper advised me that "Smoking is bad for both bees and keeper."

Sadly, I've lost touch. He's probably propping up a bar somewhere. Or dead. Or both.

Haynes

On Fathers' Day I was given the Haynes Bee Manual. Outstanding. You can buy the Haynes Bee Manual (and read very positive reviews) here.

Baby you can drive my car

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-40258679/bee-swarm-swamps-car-in-hull

Crying wolf, or sounding the alarm?

The trouble is, this is old news...Does repetition get the message across, or numb the audience?

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/honey-we-need-your-help-to-save-the-bees-1.2872609

The Bungling Beekeeper's Beekeeping Bible

Here's a nice blog: https://thebunglingbeekeeper.blogspot.co.uk/

Olympics, here we come

The Google card for the Wimbledon Beekeepers' Association lists us as "Sports club in Morden."

Syrup

It's an enormous pity that slang terms, such as syrup, have largely fallen out of use. All the same, I miss the opportunity to write about the hilarious results of confusing syrup of figs with bee feed. It could be funnier than Citizen Khan. Heck,*anything* could be funnier than Citizen Khan.

How on earth did Anand Varma shoot this film?

Swarm!

The same friend called again, this time to say that she had spotted a swarm in her garden. I am waiting at the airport to fly to London. I blame James Nesbitt.

Swarm!

A friend called to say that she had spotted a swarm, sitting neatly on a post, in her street. I am waiting at the airport to fly to Berlin.

Nicer bees and people you could not hope to meet

I get my bees from East Surrey Bees - http://eastsurreybees.co.uk.websitebuilder.prositehosting.co.uk/home - and nicer bees and people you could not hope to meet.

Wax moths save the planet! Hooray (ish)

If your colonies have ever experienced a wax-moth infestation, this news (below) will come as no surprise (and did I see the same report in New Scientist?)

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2017/04/29/plastic-eating-caterpillars-could-save-the-planet

Pic from The Economist

Colony Collapse Disorder: Beekeepers to Blame?

Looking at this NYTimes article, https://nyti.ms/2lmPODV, it struck me how carelessly the hives are treated: many lids open, multiple hives in proximity. I wonder if bees drifting from hive to hive make the entire stock susceptible to disease?