Bumble packs a punch!

This morning a big, fat bumblebee snuck under my shirt and stung me, and it sure packs a punch. Either Bombus terrestris or Bombus lucorum.

https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/white-tailed-bumblebees/buff-tailed-bumblebee/

Photo: Bill Temples

Glasgow Royal Jelly Infirmary

After a year of using large amounts of plastic protective equipment, healthcare workers decided to repay nature by setting up the colony. 

Consultant rheumatologist Dr Hilary Wilson, said: “It’s a way for us to help pay back for all the plastic PPE and other vital equipment used to keep us safe in the pandemic."

Don't tell Dr Wilson about poly hives, then...

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/glasgow-bee-hive/

Bees and microbeads

National Geographic: Honeybees are accumulating airborne microplastics on their bodies.https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/honeybees-are-accumulating-airborne-microplastics-on-their-bodies

Angelina Jolie Gets Crawled All Over By A Bunch Of Bees For A Good Cause

https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a36500319/angelina-jolie-bees/

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Green Bee Honey

www.greenbeehoney.co.uk from Poland

BBKA Leaflets 2020

Order Form for leaflets Allotment Beekeeping (L015) Cost: £0.07 each    Size: A4 3 Fold    Edition: February 2012  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Bees, Neighbours & Siting an Apiary (L011) Cost: £0.12 each    Size: DL 4 Fold    Edition: June 2012  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ BFTB Arable Beginners Bugology / Friends in the Fields / Mosey in the Margins Leaflets       Cost: Please download for free from the Back from the Brink website: https://ift.tt/3wgAgCV  Size: A4    Edition: November 2020  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Collecting a Swarm (L004) Cost: Please download for free    Size: A4 3 Fold  ...

from British Beekeepers Association https://ift.tt/3tUMAr2
via gqrds

Important Organisations for Beekeepers

Beekeeping Organisations National Diploma in Beekeeping (NDB) Welsh, Scottish and Ulster BBKA equivalents (WBKA, SBKA, UBKA) Bee Farmers' Association (BFA) In Europe Confederation of National Beekeeping Associations (CONBA) The Central Association of Beekeepers (CABK) Government groups Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) National Bee Unit (NBU) Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) Regional Bee Inspectors (RBIs) Seasonal Bee Inspectors (SBI) BeeBase - an initiative by NBU The Chemicals Regulation Division (CRD) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) - pesticide poisoning The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) The Institute of Arable Crop Research (IACR) at Rothamsted Other groups Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders' Association (BIBBA) International Bee Research Association (IBRA) British Honey Importers and Packers Association (BHIPA) The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE)...

from British Beekeepers Association https://ift.tt/3f03aS3
via gqrds

Shake, shake, shake yer body

Neat piece about how bee swarms hang together,"What a bundle of buzzing bees can teach engineers about robotic materials."  https://theconversation.com/what-a-bundle-of-buzzing-bees-can-teach-engineers-about-robotic-materials-125194

Schools of fish and murmurations of starlings exhibit the same basic mechanisms, using sight-proximity.

https://theconversation.com/what-a-bundle-of-buzzing-bees-can-teach-engineers-about-robotic-materials-125194

Novelty use of a Queen excluder

Looking through one of my colonies today, when I opened up I was surprised, to put it mildly, to see the queen excluder on the top of the top super. This hive is brood + three supers. 

Eh?

Or course, the bees were totally happy, with brood spread in lovely solid swathes in all boxes except, of course, the brood box. 

From my point of view, it's a royal shambles! Why on earth did I put the QE on the top? She's a marked queen, everything is 100% normal... My notes are not much help, listing the hive as BS/E/SS, and a remark that at next trip I would consolidate to B/E/SSS. 

Was puting the QE on top senility, stupidity, or incompetence?

(Don't answer that!)

Here's an old photo of the colony before muggins went crazy...

The sting is in the tale

Sorting out some spare frames etc today, I managed to get stung on the tip of one finger. No bees in sight, just the remains of a bee carcass on an old brood frame that I happened to grip in exactly the wrong manner. In 15+ years of keeping bees, catching swarms and what-have you, there's a first time for everything!

Pic from https://www.americanpest.net/blog/post/mad-truths-about-bee-stings