The Beekeeper's Picnic - plus Sherlock Holmes

A new game you know you want to play...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2248890/The_Beekeepers_Picnic__A_Sherlockian_Adventure/

Colony losses, US style

Apparently, Washington State University entomologists think that commercial honey bee colony losses are projected to reach between 60% and 70% in 2025.

Crikey.

More here https://abcnews.go.com/US/honey-bee-colonies-face-70-losses-2025-impacting/story?id=120191720 

More here: https://news.wsu.edu/news/2025/03/25/honey-bee-colony-declines-grow-as-wsu-researchers-work-to-fight-losses/

How clean are my gloves?

Branden Aroyan

Why do I think "stoner" when I see this photo? Anyway, it turns out that (a) Branden does all the beekeeping and (b) Her Indoors doesn't like honey.

The Bee Listener

Came across a great blog by Ann Chilcott https://www.beelistener.co.uk/

Highly recommended!

Ann Chilcott, Scottish Expert Beekeeper

Jason Statham Is Back for ‘The Beekeeper 2’

Grey Bees, by Andrey Kurkov

Finished reading Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov. Not sure if I enjoyed it, exactly...

Anti-varroa treatment timing

Fascinating article on the timing of treatments used to kill varroa: https://www.earth.com/news/major-cause-of-honeybee-mortality-can-be-easily-reduced/ 

Al Wathba Honey Festival

Now *that* is how you stage a honey festival! 

 

The fight to save the native Welsh honeybee

In an article headed "The fight to save the native Welsh honeybee," it struck me that there probably isn't a native Welsh bee:

1) 'Wales' is a political construct created by people, not bees

2) Great Britain might have had an identifiable strain of bees, the British Black Bee

3) A rule of thumb is that species within a genus cannot successfully interbreed, but all A mellifera can interbreed successfully

So being a Linnaean curmudgeon, I don't think there is a native Welsh honeybee.

https://nation.cymru/feature/the-fight-to-save-the-native-welsh-honeybee/

Photo by Carwyn Graves

Beekeeper devastated after 300,000 drowned during 'horrific' New Year's Day flooding

Sad story: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/beekeeper-devastated-after-300-000-drowned-during-horrific-new-year-s-day-flooding/ar-AA1xtwQG

Fencing veil or pepperpot?

One of the greatest questions facing humanity: fencing veil or pepperpot?

Pic from the Wisborough Green Beekeepers' Association, www.wgbka.org.uk