Paul and I visited the apiary site on Langney Marsh to see how the bees in the Warre were getting on. We had left them with a queenless but well-provisioned hive sited near them, and a block across the entrance to reduce the amount of policing required as the colony is still very small and …
First Visit to West Rise Bee Sanctuary and School Apiary
I was invited to be involved with this project by the Head of the award-winning West Rise Junior School, Mike Fairclough, and Paul Youlten, bee enthusiast from Winchelsea. The apiary had been set up six years previously as a sanctuary for the native black honeybee, Apis mellifera mellifera but had sadly become rather neglected. The …
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Cross comb
It has been uncharacteristically hot and sunny here for weeks now and the bees have been making honey. I'm a bit mindful that we desperately need some rain otherwise the plants will reduce their nectar reward in order to conserve moisture, so the bees will need their stores. However, they are still producing prodigiously at …
Sketching Chickens
This was my third attempt at running this course as the weather was exceedingly unhelpful on previous occasions! Therein lies the problem with organising any outside event in the UK... The reason I run these courses is that as well as a beekeeper, I am an artist, and run a life drawing class each Monday …
Summer vs Winter honey
How and when bees store honey alters the composition and taste. In conventional beekeeping, all the honey from the preceding season is taken in late summer/early autumn, and the bees fed a sugar syrup to replenish their stores. I don't do this. Instead, I take honey little and often through the summer and leave the …
Beeswax wraps
Honeybees produce wax from glands in their abdomen, and their combs are a vitally important part of the colony's life, being a place to live, communicate and raise their young as well as store their honey and pollen supplies. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and collective work to form the wax cells, and …
Sustainable Beekeeping poster
This poster is the one I use as a visual aid during my Beekeeping courses and is a handy reminder for the topics covered during the session. It’s A2, printed in sepia ink with a matte finish. They are available to buy at £5 plus £3 p&p. Please contact me for postage if you are …
A Rescue
This is an account of a rescue I carried out with my friend Kit back in October 2014. It has been languishing in my Drafts folder, so I thought I would publish it but apologies for the grainy photos: taken on an iPhone 3. Anyway, enjoy! There has been a colony of feral bees in …
Wayward Bee 