A subjective, brief and surely inaccurate list of beekeepers

Agnes Baden-Powell, Agnes Smyth, Established the Girl Guides

Aristotle, of Stagirus, Thinker

Beckham, David Robert Joseph, Footballer

Clarkson, Jeremy Charles Robert, Farmer

Coleman, Zendaya Maree Stoermer, Actor

DiCaprio, Leonardo Wilhelm, Actor

Fenty, Robyn Rihanna, Singer

Fonda, Henry Jaynes, Actor

Freeman, Morgan Porterfield, Actor

Hemsworth, Christopher, Actor

Hillary, Edmund Percival, Climber

Hippocrates, Asclepiades of Kos, Thinker

Holmes, William Sherlock Scott, Detective

Johansson, Scarlett Ingrid, Actor

Johnson, Dwayne Douglas, Wrestler

Knowles, Beyoncé Giselle, Singer

Lively, Blake Ellender, Actor

McPherson, Graham 'Suggs', Singer

Milne, Alan Alexander, Writer

Plinius Secundus, Gaius, Politician

Sheeran, Edward Christopher, Singer

Tolstoy, Lev Nikolayevich, Writer

von Trapp, Maria Augusta Kutschera, Singer

Washington, George, Politician

Manchester Beekeepers

 

www.mdbka.com

Resisting varroa

Fascinating presentation yesterday evening from Steve Riley, author of The Honey Bee Solution to Varroa.

In a nutshell, the thesis is that treating bees with miticides is creating selection pressure for treatment-resistant mites while simultaneously creating selection pressure for varroa-susceptible bees.

As Steve confirms, this is hardly news.

The point he and others make is that it is possible to select for mite-resistant bees by close observation of behaviour, and - over time - stop treating with miticides.

The book "explains the practical steps beekeepers can take to identify and select for easily observable Varroa-resistant traits in their colonies. The science behind the bees’ mechanisms for controlling their mite populations is explained, in what is a bee-led solution to the biggest challenge facing the European honey bee."

Available from Northern Bee Books and Amazon