The link from the main article takes you directly to "Best pub in South Oxfordshire," which speaks volumes about beekeepers...
Full story here: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/free-nature-events-celebrate-wallingford-050000208.html
CONFUSING ENTHUSIASM WITH RESULTS
When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do.
The link from the main article takes you directly to "Best pub in South Oxfordshire," which speaks volumes about beekeepers...
Full story here: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/free-nature-events-celebrate-wallingford-050000208.html
More bees, this time in Launceston: https://cornishstuff.com/2024/03/14/local-primary-schools-beekeeping-club-buzzes-to-new-heights-with-support-from-south-west-water/
Nice bit of bee-vaccing: https://x.com/BNPPARIBASOPEN/status/1768419806712377353?s=20 and https://twitter.com/i/status/1768417280143364498
Some nice Greek agitprop: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/greek-beekeepers-hives-parliament-protest-165142791.html
Oh.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/lifestyle/lifestylegeneral/it-turns-out-we-have-been-saving-the-wrong-bees/ar-AA1b3DIG
The Beekeeper movie currently tops the box office, beating Mean Girls - which considering some of my bees, would be a good subtitle for the same film.
Reviews of The Beekeeper might be summarised as 'ineffably silly, violent fun - if you like that kind of thing.'
On the plus side, The Beekeeper is better than Barbie, but that's a very, very low bar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus |
Summary of research from the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious: Honey bees produce less honey in areas where the soil is less productive with fewer nectar-producing plants.
https://phys.org/news/2024-01-bees-honey-reveals-clues-decades.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/08/declining-honey-yields-bees-research
APICO is a laid-back beekeeping sim game about breeding, collecting, & conserving bees! Set in a series of lush environments, APICO uniquely combines resource gathering, biology, and beekeeping minigames, taking ideas from a mix of real-life and fantasy apiculture & floriculture.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1390190/APICO/
Story source: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/1/2/photos-in-colombia-illegally-felled-timber-repurposed-to-help-bees
"Each established Asian hornet nest has been estimated to eat around 11kg of pollinators and other invertebrates per year." [https://www.farnhamherald.com/environment/farnham-beekeepers-issue-urgent-asian-hornet-warning-after-sightings-641095]
If a honeybee typically turns the scales at around 100mg, then 11kg = 110,000 bees, approximately two colonies.
APICO is a laid-back beekeeping sim game about breeding, collecting, & conserving bees! Set in a series of lush environments, APICO uniquely combines resource gathering, biology, and beekeeping minigames, taking ideas from a mix of real-life and fantasy apiculture & floriculture.
Yes, really. https://whitethorngames.com/apico
A sweet story, no less: https://uk.style.yahoo.com/sweet-chemist-emilys-250-000-180000188.html
Buried in the story: “The site is registered as an Enhanced Sentinel Apiary. This means that the National Bee Unit checks it for exotic pests and diseases,” explained Emily.
“It was requested for this monitoring due to its proximity to the ports. They are looking for any exotic pests and diseases arriving by boat which might attack the bees or affect their health. The idea is that anything would be spotted early and contained.”
Emily (whose last name is secret, it seems) is at The Wilton Centre, https://www.ukspa.org.uk/wilton-centre/
Neat report here: https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/asian-hornets-confirmed-london-first-092449212.html
The Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, keeps bees, and partners with Bees Abroad. Check out the "Bee Our Guest" offer from the hotel, https://www.royallancaster.com/promotions/bee-our-guest/
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/top-london-hotel-almost-million-161558617.html
The only thing is, feral colonies live for the most part in vertical cavities, such as hollow trees. For structural strength of the comb, bees naturally build comb with honey at the top, then pollen and brood. The extended horizontal pattern of the Ivry-B seems to go against that general principle.
Looks like a *lot* of bees in Glasgie: https://www.thenational.scot/news/23619113.63rd-1st-glasgow-restaurant-forced-close-huge-bee-swarm/
Bees are astonishingly good at making decisions – and our computer model explains how that’s possible
Published: June 27, 2023 8.00am BST https://theconversation.com/bees-are-astonishingly-good-at-making-decisions-and-our-computer-model-explains-how-thats-possible-208189
Well, hype-headline to one side, the article includes a note about a bee's "tiny yet remarkable brain."
A honeybee brain possesses around 1 million neurons, which gives a neurons-to-mass ratio of 1,000,000n:0.0001kg, normalised to 10,000,000,000:1.
Human brains comprise around 10,000,000,000 neurons; and as an example, I am around 100kg. Presuming I have the average number of brain neurons (optimistic, but run with it), my neurons-to-mass ratio is 100,000,000:1.
On that measure, the average bee is one hundred times brainier than me.
Alarming news: US honeybees suffer second deadliest season on record
Nearly 50% of US bee colonies died off last year, although efforts have helped the overall bee population remain ‘relatively stable’
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/23/us-honeybees-second-deadliest-season
Cricket Ireland forced to call out beekeeper after unexpected swarm delays domestic clash
https://wisden.com/stories/news-stories/cricket-ireland-call-out-beekeeper-unexpected-swarm-delays-domestic-clash-ire
Nice piece here https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uae-beekeepers-adapting-climate-change-195914193.html
“With temperatures that could reach 50 degrees (122 Fahrenheit), 45 degrees (113 Fahrenheit), bees can't survive in these hot temperatures. We can overcome this by placing the bees under large canopies, we also make sure there are water sprinklers around. Also, we were able to develop a strain of bees that can survive the heat in the UAE. Through genetic manipulation, we were able to choose certain genes in the bees that allow the queen bee to live in hot temperatures. We chose the genes in the bee that allow for the queen bee to survive in high temperatures.”
From BeeBase https://www.nationalbeeunit.com/about-us/beekeeping-news/asian-hornet-sighting-canterbury-kent/
Asian Hornet Sighting - Canterbury, Kent
On Sunday 28th May a bee farmer, whilst doing a routine apiary inspection near Canterbury, Kent, recognised an Asian hornet that had been attracted to the colonies and knocked it down. The NBU has collected the specimen which will be analysed by scientists and follow up activities will take place to raise awareness.
Please report sightings of Vespa velutina using the ‘Asian hornet Watch’ app for iPhone and Android, or the online reporting form.
https://risc.brc.ac.uk/alert.php?species=asian_hornet
A sensor around a millimetre in size has been tested to monitor a honeybee flying around some flowers. It could also work for medical monitoring inside a person's body
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2376605-tiny-backpack-for-bees-can-track-their-position-and-temperature/
Yes, bees are sentient - and so are slugs, fish, monkeys, dogs and people.
Being sentient comes in degrees. Generally, I accept that other people are sentient because they are likely to be somewhat similar to me; their me-like behaviour persuades me that they are sentient.
That's the case we make for dogs. Exhibiting happiness, guilt, and hunger create a persuasive case that dogs are sentient. Monkeys, probably the same though perhaps a little less, mainly because we know less about their behaviour.
As for fish and slugs, we have so little in common with them that we tend not to think of them as sentient. It might be reasonable to say "Sentient, but not as we know it."
Which leads to a sliding scale, and bees are on it: they are sentient, but not as we know it.
https://guildford-dragon.com/beekeepers-notes-knowing-bees-are-sentient-changes-how-we-must-treat-them/
This year's Manchester Flower Festival offers the opportunity to "try beekeeping," and mix cocktails featuring honey produced from the Printworks' own bees.
What's odd is that the article [https://secretmanchester.com/manchester-printworks-honeyworks/] fails to mention the long association of bees with Manchester.
Well I never!
LVMH-owned beauty and fragrance house Guerlain is celebrating World Bee Day with its third annual fundraising campaign to support its bee conservation programme.
Between 20 May (World Bee Day) and 22 May (International Day of Biological Diversity), the brand is donating 20% of global sales to support the initiative.
https://www.moodiedavittreport.com/guerlain-celebrates-world-bee-day-with-third-annual-fund-raising-campaign/
The relationship between Wales and Ukraine has got even sweeter with the launch of a new honey that encapsulates the essence of both countries.
Wainwright’s Ukranian Sunflower honey is the result of a collaboration between Ceredigion-based Wainwright’s Bee Farm and Ukrainian producer Honey Brothers.
Read more here: https://businessnewswales.com/new-honey-cultivates-collaboration-between-wales-ukraine/
Some piffle in The Mail about the bees at Buck House and Clarence House: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/royal-beekeeper-places-charles-bees-under-security-for-coronation/
The photo appears to show the hives with funeral sashes, presumably for the death of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
"A Shropshire councillor and hobbyist beekeeper has released jars of honey for sale to mark King Charles's coronation."
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/bridgnorth/much-wenlock/2023/05/04/councillor-beekeeper-unveils-coronation-honey/
So we are told, “beekeeping age” refers to attractive men around 40 or 50 years old, intended as a compliment. Given that I am waaaaaay past my beekeeping age, and the source of this wonderment is Tik Tok, this new learning amazes me.
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/does-mean-someone-beekeeping-age-182314219.html
Anyway, I always refer to beekeeping age as the number of hives each year multiplied by the number of years. For example, if you keep three hives for two years and then four hives for the next three years, your beekeeping age is 3x2 + 4x3 = 18. For me, that makes sense. A commercial beekeeper like Stewart Spinks with several hundred hives is likely to learn and know more than a hobbyist with three hives, so Stewart's beekeeping age is perhaps 200x10, ie 2,000. And that, of course, is his actual age, too.
https://www.norfolk-honey.co.uk/
Well, I'm not sure I would count my bees as "pets"... Here's a piece on a councillor in Speyside, Juli Harris: https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view,councillor-juli-harris-beekeeping-and-me
Apparently beekeepers in the Algarve region of Portugal produce more than 1,000 tonnes of honey every year. As a massive fan of all things Portuguese, all I can say is "Maravilhosa" (feminine, on the grounds that the queen and her worker bees are of the female persuasion).
Story here: https://www.portugalresident.com/beekeeping-continues-to-motivate-algarve-entrepreneurs/
Worth reading: https://peerj.com/articles/14699/
Here's the man. Good work, fella!
https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/david-beckhams-footballer-beekeeper-trajectory-152700178.html
The Ulster Beekeepers' Association will hold the Annual Conference in CAFRE, Greenmount Campus, Antrim on Friday and Saturday, February 17 and 18.
The theme is 'Building Sustainable Beekeeping', and the keynote speaker will be Professor Juliana Rangel, of Texas A and M University.
Tickets can be booked via: https://buytickets.at/ulsterbeekeepersassociation.
Beekeeping in Yemen dates back to the 10th century, producing many varieties of delicious honey.
— Food and Agriculture Organization (@FAO) January 22, 2023
But conflict in the country has affected beekeepers & beekeeping.
🎥Thanks to a @FAO-@WorldBank project, beekeepers like Salim are producing honey again.#BeeEngaged #SaveTheBees pic.twitter.com/WOUo11sysG
The Beekeeper of Aleppo debuts at Nottingham Playhouse (3 to 25 February), before heading to Liverpool Playhouse (1 to 11 March), Salisbury Playhouse (21 to 25 March), New Theatre Cardiff (28 March to 1 April), Theatre Severn Shrewsbury (4 to 8 April), Gaiety Theatre Dublin (11 to 15 April), The Lowry Salford (18 to 22 April), Theatre Royal Glasgow (25 to 29 April), Richmond Theatre (2 to 6 May), Theatre Royal Norwich (9 to 13 May), Cambridge Arts Theatre (16 to 20 May), Belgrade Theatre Coventry (23 to 27 May), Leeds Playouse (31 May to 3 June), Theatre Royal Newcastle Upon Tyne (6 to 10 June), Birmingham Rep (13 to 17 June), Theatre Royal Plymouth (20 to 24 June) and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford (27 June to 1 July).
Details https://www.whatsonstage.com/nottingham-theatre/news/the-beekeeper-of-aleppo-world-premiere-cast_58097.html
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/environment/scottish-parliament-holyroods-bee-population-has-grown-to-more-than-half-a-million-3967376
Holyrood’s bee population has grown to more than half a million bees since 2014 when the parliament became the first legislature in the UK to have beehives. There are now 11 beehives onsite. Honey from the hives is often on sale in the Scottish Parliament gift shop. And the beeswax, a by-product of beekeeping, is used to seal every act passed by the Scottish Parliament and to fill the Great Seal of Scotland.
Entomologists from the University of Manitoba have found that for individual honey bees kept in a controlled laboratory environment, honey bee lifespans are 50% shorter than in the 1970s. When scientists modelled the effect of today’s shorter lifespans, the results corresponded with concerning factors, including increased colony loss and reduced honey production.
PS My life is definitely shorter now than it was in the 1970s.
This gizmo is designed to listen to pollinator activity, for beekeepers to monitor activity with a view to interventions.
Find out more here https://www.agrisound.io/ and look at the kit here https://www.arnia.co/shop
Years ago I was invited to keep bees on the top of a building, and took a tour of the roof. Apart from the aircon units, phone masts, and assorted aerials, it all looked good, with a well-protected central area. The hang-up: six flights of external stairs. Not for me!
From https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/food-and-drink/perthshire-queen-bee-breeder-helps-create-marks-spencer-honey-3905259
From https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-09-28/warning-after-asian-hornet-spotted-in-uk, Wednesday 28 September 2022 at 5:35pm