Sometimes we look at life on our beautiful planet with wonder and awe at the incredible way in which it all fits together so perfectly. Perhaps some people with a religious or spiritual leaning can see a guiding hand at work. Other times, bad things happen; floods or […]
It won’t be long until spring has sprung and beekeepers across the land start to open hives and assess how their bees did over the winter. I could be more cynical than the average walrus, but I strongly suspect that most beekeepers are like gamblers with winter loss […]
I’ve been under the weather recently so haven’t managed to post anything for a while. Here’s a little bit of me answering questions after a bee talk: Hopefully I’ll be firing on all cylinders soon – I’ve got some research papers on winter brood to read Also, I’m […]
I realise that I may be unusual in this, but I’m not a massive fan of social media. I’m a ‘baby boomer’ with two kids of the ‘millennial’ generation and one who is ‘Generation Z’. I’m cool with email and the world wide web; I can’t see the […]
Following on from my article about using brood breaks to help with varroa management, I’m going to get into ‘death by charts’ territory today. Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of Randy Oliver’s spreadsheet model, which can be tweaked to reflect one’s colonies and treatment […]
Varroa mites have been a big problem for honey bees in most of Europe and North America for thirty or more years. Many colony deaths stem from varroa and associated viruses, and many beekeepers probably don’t even know that mites were the culprit. After all, who does mite […]
As many say in the beekeeping world, ask ten people about something, and you’ll get eleven different answers. I don’t think that’s entirely true, but beekeeping is undoubtedly a ‘broad church.’ A common way to start beekeeping in the UK is to buy a nucleus colony; a small […]
This week I did a Zoom talk for the Suffolk beekeepers, which was fun. Well, as much fun as it can be for an introvert. Maybe the virtual environment suits people like me who shy away from big crowds and do better in a one-to-one situation. However, sometimes […]
When Paul worked in IT over twelve years ago, he used to spend “far too long” gazing out of the window. “I’d had enough of office work; I was sick of it,” he told me. In 2008 he was enjoying a post-walk pint with Malcolm Thorpe and Janet […]
