BeeLines - July '25

What an interesting meeting we had with Vicky and, of course, seeing her flow hive working. Search ‘flow hive’ online and you will find a great flow of information! However, I shall always remember the moments of anticipation as Vicky cranked the flow hive lever and we watched; and we waited. We were watching little plastic tubes Vicky had fixed on the back of the hive. A few more moments passed. And then a drop of honey appeared. And I think we all cheered! We chatted as one jar filled, and then another, and another and quite a few more jars at a steady flow. We were all very pleased for Vicky, I’m sure. On the way to the meeting we had some drizzly rain and recorded only 14o. The weather did improve, but considering the less than ideal conditions the bees were remarkably calm and placid. Hives were opened, and a queen was found and marked. Notwithstanding the quite large group of around 28 of us, we were very well catered for and thank Vicky for an excellent meeting.

“Many members of the association have been promoting and supporting locally adapted bees. To this end the association agreed a Voluntary Conservation Area in 2020 to discourage the import of bees and queens from outside the area”

The above quote is from the LLEBKA website https://llebka.org.uk/supporting-locally-adapted-v/. We would like to believe that step-by-step the opinion of beekeepers, in Wales, the UK and further afield is aligning with this view. We have noted recent evidence that supports this. Here is a paragraph from a recently updated advisory booklet published by the National Bee Unit (NBU)

“Local beekeeping associations may help new beekeepers get started, for example, by providing a small colony that has the great advantage of local bees that are adapted to the area…Try to avoid obtaining bees from outside your area as this could result in the spread of pests and diseases.” (The National Bee Unit (NBU), Starting Right with Bees, 2025, p.14 https://www.nationalbeeunit.com/assets/PDFs/3_Resources_for_beekeepers/Advisory_leaflets/Starting_Right_with_Bees_Final_2016.pdf)

Following the theme of, ‘the spread of pests and diseases,’ we listened to the WBKA webinar on 3rd July. The topic was, “New Discoveries in Tropilaelaps - Treatments and Behaviours”. The presenter was Maggie Gill, who members may remember was Regional Bee Inspector Wales for a brief period. Maggie is now a senior entomologist at DEFRA. It was interesting that Maggie was presenting for PHIRA (Pollinator Health International Research Association) which [Google informs] was set up by Maggie in 2023. It was an interesting and detailed presentation about this mite that is smaller than varroa at 1mm, and, if it ever gets to the UK, is likely to be a more serious threat to honey bee colonies than varroa - because of the speed it can decimate a colony. Maggie’s research has shown that this mite can easily survive on bees that are imported. Maggie noted that she still worked for DEFRA, and had to be careful what she said; she did, however, caution viewers to be careful when purchasing bees online and ask themselves “What does that label of UK bees mean?”

We note that the Scottish Government makes their position clear and states, “Tropilaelaps is spread by the importation of bees”. https://www.gov.scot/publications/tropilaelaps/

We are so lucky to have native or near native honey bees in our area. The moving of non-native bees, including hybrid Buckfast bees, into the area of LLEBKA will threaten this situation. Protecting this quite rare population of native insects is a good reason to stop the importing of honey bees. It seems very obvious that the most likely way for the tiny Tropilaelapis mite to enter the UK is with imported bees; this alone should be a sufficient reason to ban the importing of honey bees into the UK.

As we go through July we pass the peak of egg laying by the queens in our hives. Later swarms, artificial swarms and other ‘splits will, hopefully, still have proportionally more young brood in their nests than sealed brood. The brood area of larger colonies will, however, be dominated by sealed brood and hatching bees. And the bees can concentrate on collecting nectar and turning that into lots of lovely honey! Locally there are many flowers that are looking great this year. The following come to mind - white clover, Himalayan balsam has flowers which are well underway since early July; bell heather which has looked good for some while, and we noticed that ling, the true heather, had flowers just starting to open on 1st July; brambles are still flowering and there are lots of the yellow Autumn hawkbit along the roadsides. And we see our bees visiting all sorts of flowers that we struggle to name - some we checked on recently were plantain, mugwort, self-heal, and various thistles. Has any member got their own list for their bees?

Visiting LLEBKA apiary and seeing the excellent organisation of the hives did, of course, bring Keith to mind and the hope that his treatment is going well. James and the LLEBKA Committee have done a great job to organise volunteers to take turns to check the bees at the Association’s apiary. And so it was I was with James at the apiary along with Bill and Angela, and Becks and Dan. Thank you to other members who have volunteered to help in the apiary rota. On our visit the bees were looking good and were very well behaved. A new queen was found - Blodwen by name, or possibly a daughter of Blodwen; here she is, in this photo:

We heard on Radio 4 this morning (8th July) that the length of day today will be a tad shorter than usual (apparently caused by a movement within the earth’s interior). However, the loss is only by 1.5 milliseconds, and so not a big problem as - was explained - “it takes 5 milliseconds for bees to flap their wings”. Time is short today so better try to conclude…

Let’s finish these notes with a traditional ending - ‘A sting in the tail’ (or should that be ‘tale’?). It is probably a good idea for all beekeepers to be reminded, from time to time, of that ‘barbed pointy-bit’ that worker bees have at the opposite end from their heads. And so it was on 3rd July Shân and I decided to make a ‘quick’ visit to our out apiary to just check on a nuc that we guessed was failing to raise a new queen (it had failed - that is another story). While by the hives we checked the supers and, as the sun had emerged decided to check one or two other hives. We were halfway through the brood frames of one hive, and although we had a few boisterous bees around us, the bees were behaving quite reasonably. One or two bees were inspecting my veil, when I thought, “is that a bee walking on my forehead?”. Yes it was! I didn’t panic (does the tendency to panic lessen as you progress into your more mature years?), but I did question the motive of the bee and went to restrain her with my hand against the mesh of my veil. Too late! I’d been stung in my left eyebrow. We retreated away from the hives and Shân removed the sting. If you keep bees you can expect the occasional sting on your hands. Those on your face, however, are best avoided and as expected I gained a ‘puffy’ eye later in the day. Also later I felt something that was hard on my left eyebrow. It was the sting. Shân had removed the poison sac, but the sting had remained and dried and appeared as a tiny splinter hidden in the hairs of my eyebrow. It took tweezers and a steady pull to remove it. Isn’t a bee sting a marvel of anatomical engineering! Other than some swelling around my eye it was quite reassuring to have no further problem other than somewhat inhibiting my ability to wink for a couple of days!

If you have comments, information, a bee story or tips you would like to share with members please let us know and we will include them in BeeLines.