Author Archives: Meridian Beekeepers’ Association

Stop the importation of honey bees into Great Britain. Please sign the petition and share the link petition The petition is to ask the UK Government to ensure people don’t break the rules on the movement of bees. Unrestricted movement could allow Small Hive Beetle to arrive here and damage British bees even further. .Continue reading “Help save our bees!”

Most people know bees are under increasing threat from human activity but what can we do about it? It’s such a big problem. Thursday 20 May is World Bee Day, designed to increase our awareness of these amazing pollinators and to show that we can do something about it! What does the UN suggest weContinue reading “World bee day, 20 May”

Queen rearing survey Several members have expressed an interest in working together to improve our stock and to have an accessible supply of good-quality local queens available for our members. The aim of the proposed queen-rearing programme is to develop more healthy bees suited to our local conditions and which exhibit the characteristics most cherishedContinue reading “Meridian queen rearing programme 2022”

May’s edition of BBKA News contained a short article about Varroa becoming a reportable disease in England with effect from 21 April. There was some discussion about this at Monday’s fireside chat which prompted Meridian member David Smith to emailed Ian Campbell, news editor of BBKA News. David asked why the ‘Varroa Reportable in England’Continue reading “Varroa reporting in England”

Bee Disease Insurance Limited sent the following information for circulation to Meridian members. Whole Apiary Shook Swarm Trial Bee Disease Insurance Limited (BDI) has announced the start of their whole apiary shook swarm trial in partnership with the National Bee Unit (NBU). Bee inspectors will now offer to beekeepers who find European Foul Brood (EFB)Continue reading “Whole apiary shook swarm and bee viruses talk by Kirsty Stainton”

The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) in the British Isles The Asian hornet is a dangerous, non-native species which has the potential to wreak havoc in the UK. It hails from Southeast Asia and could never have arrived here naturally. Natural History Museum It is already well-established in France (and across continental Europe) and has causedContinue reading “Asian hornet”

My best and worse colonies in 2020 I run between thirteen and twenty colonies, including Nucs, in five locations including my garden. Six locations if you count the New Forest where I take my largest and smallest colonies for heather honey (my favourite) or to fill the brood box with quality winter stores. In mostContinue reading “Louise”

Throughout the beekeeping year, its possible to accumulate quite a lot of wax from different sources. There’s the brace comb we remove during hive inspections, comb we’re replacing from brood boxes, cappings from honey processing and the wax we scrape from equipment when we’re cleaning it. Louise’s video shows a brilliant tip for collecting allContinue reading “Processing wax”

Tony AshworthTitchfield 07766 525963 01489 579863 Peter ClarkWest End 07867 557964 01489 692881 Louise EvansBotley 07434 952900 01489 781155 Howard TowlShedfield 07832 185913 01329 835814 All collectors cover the whole of our South Hampshire area including Bishops Waltham, Botley, Hedge End, Swanmore, Titchfield and West End The beekeeper will ask you a few questions: HaveContinue reading “Swarm collectors”

Swarming is the honey bees’ natural method of reproduction. It generally takes place over a few weeks in Spring but we do see early swarms and some take place later in Summer. Each honey bee colony has a queen. She lives for several years and is mother to all the bees in her colony. TheContinue reading “Swarming”