It is always sad when we hear of the death of a
member of the community to which we belong, and I was particularly
sad to hear of the deaths of two staunch members of the beekeeping
community. I knew Professor John Free from the many lectures he gave
us in the Bee Research Unit at Cardiff University where he was a
visiting professor and from the total encouragement he gave us all
in our research projects. Even in our vivas where examination and
inspection of our efforts was the order of the day, he presented an
encouraging and friendly (if strict) aspect which helped us all in
our attempts to portray ourselves as scientists extraordinaire. I
didn’t know Les Thorne personally but of course I had heard much
about him and he was indirectly the cause of me taking up
beekeeping. His beekeeping supplies company was situated directly in
my way when I was down the road thinking about taking a look at
beekeeping, and a collision was not far off. I entered, I saw and I
was conquered – mainly by Paul Smith who flogged me a copy of Alan
Campion’s excellent book ‘Bees at the Bottom of the Garden.’ The
next thing I knew, I was on a course which included a talk by Les
about his company and a walk round the factory. I’m sure that the
company that Les did so much to build up was a direct ‘accelerator’
of modern beekeeping interest in the UK, including my own and
warrants my sincere thanks. So these two stalwarts have passed on
now leaving a huge legacy of beekeeping advancement behind them,
both in their own different ways, and for this we can all thank
them. It is difficult to imagine that their names would be easily
forgotten by the beekeeping fraternity.
This month’s edition of Apis follows its usual line of presenting
bee science and news to our readers and we welcome back Chad who has
been absent from our pages for quite a while, so welcome back Chad.
With the publication of a new book on the reverend W.C. Cotton, the
19 century bee master and author, we take a look at this remarkable
man in the historical note and the poem as well as taking a glimpse
of his life in the book section.
Our look at science in beekeeping takes us into the realms of
pollination control, bumblebees and nest thermoregulation, dogs,
wasps, sex and size, sex and drunkenness and also a look at how
anecdotal evidence can (and often does) turn out to be based on
science fact. The recipe for a change avoids the intake of mass
calories and is based on fish. Try it. It’s delicious – and healthy.
As usual we always try to reflect the interest of our readers, but
we do need input from you. If you have any news or items of
beekeeping interest (and with Apis this can include a wide variety
of subjects), then let us know. Send them in. Share your interest
with a good and intelligent bunch of readers. Poems, articles, news
items, events (modern and historical) and miscellaneous beekeeping
trivia are all wanted, and if you have any unusual recipes that
involve honey, we need them.
The events list is growing rapidly as more organisations are
beginning to send in their lists and I include one in French which
demonstrates our global reach (well over the channel anyway) on
behalf of Hubert Guerriat of Belgium who also sent in his Revue
Mellifica, a subscription on line magazine for French speaking
beekeepers. I also read with pleasure the excellent Notts BKA
beekeepers’ web newsletter edited by Stuart Ching and that of The
Federation of Berkshire Beekeepers which includes an events listing
for a talk on pollen in forensic science. That sounds extremely
interesting (See events in this issue). To the editors of these
newsletters I send my thanks.
Nest month we are going to take a look at honey and the brewing
industry and investigate venom and its uses (outside of politics),
so if any readers have items of interest to impart on these (or any
other subject), get in touch.
The strange photo in last month’s editorial was of young preying
mantis insects leaving their egg nest after hatching. The nest was
situated just under the hand hold of a beehive. Praying mantises do
occasionally sit at the entrance to a hive and take bees, but this
is not common and is of little consequence to the colony, although
very interesting to watch.
What is the following photo all about?
I hope that you enjoy this edition of Apis UK and
that you keep in touch.
All the best
BEEKEEPING NEWS Back to top
Technology saving beehives
A beekeeper in the South Island of New Zealand is using microdots in
a bid to stop thieves he suspects are taking hundreds of stolen
hives to the North Island. He said that the beehives were being
stolen to order to fill a gap in North Island supplies. He has lost
some 200 hives already containing honey valued at $NZ50,000 and is
now working with an Auckland company called Recordit to install the
microdots in his hives. Each dot is less than a millimetre in size
but can be accessed by police in efforts to find stolen hives.
The market for hives in the North Island because of losses to varroa
and the high bee death rates during kiwi fruit pollination. (Often
due to spraying by the very orchardists who rely on the bees).
|
 |
|
NZ Beekeepers loading hives for kiwi fruit pollination. |
Varroa has reached the South island now and after an initial
expensive and futile effort at containing it, the NZ MAF has now
decided not to proceed with its containment plans.
New Zealand Estimate of agricultural due to Varroa
Varroa's Impact in New Zealand has been assessed by the MAF
organisation there and the estimated costs of the varroa mite up to
2035 are as follows:
Arable $13.2 million
Beekeeping $34.6 million
Horticulture $64 million
Pastoral $402 million
Total : $513.8 million
(MAF estimate - middle case scenario)
RESEARCH NEWS Back to top
Queen Bees Shown To Pass Viruses to Their Offspring
In many beekeeping books and manuals of instruction, there is usually a section on bee diseases and in this section may often be read ‘changing the queen may be beneficial’. With our increasing knowledge of bees and their problems, this phrase is less often seen, but still for sac brood and paralysis disease (both viral diseases), it is thought that re-queening may help the situation due to possible hereditary factors.
Now, the first evidence that viruses can be transmitted vertically from mother queens to their offspring in honey bee colonies has been discovered by US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. They made the discovery by testing individual queen bees and their offspring for deformed wing virus, sacbrood virus and black queen cell virus.
The finding, reported earlier in 2006 in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, were discussed recently at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Indianapolis. The researchers examined queen faeces and various tissues including haemolymph, heads, guts spermatheca and ovaries. Tissues of gut, ovaries and spermatheca, as well as the faeces, were found to carry viral infections. In a separate study, the virus status of queens and their offspring was examined simultaneously. Once viruses in the queen bees were identified, the same viruses were found in their offspring, including eggs, larvae and adult workers.
According to the researchers, this information is invaluable for improving understanding of the epidemiology of virus infections in honey bees. It could be used to predict bee colonies at risk of virus infection, which, in turn, would contribute to the development of effective disease-control strategies.
 |
Can the queen bee pass viruses to their
offspring?
Research shows us the way. |
|
Bumble Bees and Nest Thermoregulation
 |
| Bumblebee nest thermoregulation has always been
poorly understood. This research shows us how they
do it and that some bumblebees are specialists in
the task. |
|
Researchers have known that a key to the insects’ success in
adapting to cooler climates is their ability to maintain fairly
stable body temperatures when flying to flowers. Apart from the well
researched honey bees, how, and indeed whether they maintained nest
temperature was poorly understood. But now scientists from the
University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound have
carried out research on bumblebee colonies and have discovered some
answers. By exposing bumblebee nests to a range of temperatures, the
researchers found that the workers are effective at buffering the
nest from temperature extremes. Some workers specialized in raising
the temperature in a nest when they incubated the colony’s young
developing bees or brood. Other workers fanned their wings to cool
the nest when the temperature became too hot.
They found that performance of various in-nest tasks is not
interchangeable among these social insects. Instead, the researchers
found strong evidence for job specialization, even when a colony was
artificially forced to step up its rate of incubation. The
researchers challenged colonies by removing their most active
incubating workers and lowering the nest temperature. One group of
bees was consistently involved incubating across a range of
temperatures. In a second experiment, the researchers removed the
most active incubating workers. When this happened a colony’s
remaining incubators responded within 24 hours by increasing their
rate of incubation, rather than having workers involved in other
jobs switch tasks. Bumblebee workers vary considerably in size, and
body size affects which tasks individuals perform.
The researchers expected that larger workers would be incubators,
but found to their surprise the opposite was true. They don’t know
whether the smaller bees are really better at warming the nest, or
whether the larger bees avoid incubating for other reasons. In
general, larger bumblebee workers are foragers for food and they
could be committed to that task. This kind of size-based division of
labour might make the colony more efficient.”
The researchers studied Bombus huntii, a species of bumblebee common
in the Pacific Northwest. Bumblebees, unlike most insects, are
warm-blooded. They can heat their bodies, and can remain active at
cooler temperatures than many other insects. To achieve optimum
conditions for their young, bumblebees rely on nest
thermoregulation, actively raising or lowering temperature. Because
they are well adapted to cooler and temperate climates, bumblebees
are important pollinators of a number of food crops including
blueberries, cranberries, huckleberries and greenhouse-grown
tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
University of Washington.
Dogs and Bumblebees
Further to the research article on bumblebee nests, remember that in July 2006, Quinn the Springer Spaniel, a specially trained sniffer dog was enlisted in conservationists abuzz with dog's role finding bees the Bumblebee Conservation Trust sniff out bumblebee nests in the Hebrides, one of the bee's last strongholds, and halt its slide towards UK extinction.
Quinn was taken from a rescue centre and trained by the Defence Animal Centre in
Melton Mowbray for the project, thought to be the first of its kind. Springer
spaniels are more normally used for hunting out drugs or explosives.
Quinn started his work on the RSPB reserve in Tiree alongside his owner Joe
Waters, who is studying for a doctorate in bumblebee conservation ecology.
It’s is the first time using a sniffer dog to aid bumblebee research has ever been done and
Ben Darvill, co-founder of the trust, said Quinn had been trained to "point" at
nests he discovers, but stay at least 1ft away to avoid being stung.
He said: "Nests are incredibly difficult to find - you can't find them by sight
but you can by smell, and that's when we came up with the idea of a sniffer
dog."
He added: "What constitutes the population size in terms of bumblebees is not
the number of individual bees, but the number of nests, as the nest holds the
queen bee that reproduces, giving rise to the next generation of bumblebees.
"We have absolutely no idea of how many bumblebee colonies there are. We do not
even know if, in some remaining strongholds like the Hebrides, there are two
colonies or a thousand colonies. It is crucial that we ascertain this."
This piece of information was adapted from an article in the Scotsman in July 21 2006 by John Ross
The Floral Network: What Determines Who Pollinates Whom? It doesn’t just
happen!
 |
|
What will pollinate these wildflowers and when. What
organises this immense task. |
|
A field of spring wildflowers, abuzz with busy insects seeking
nectar and spreading pollen, may look like a perfect model of random
interaction. Who or what will pollinate what and when. But it isn’t
just a matter of luck born out of random interactions. Now,
ecologists have discovered order within this anarchy. For instance,
as the number of species grows, the number of interactions does too,
while the connectivity (the fraction of possible interactions that
actually occur) and the nestedness (the relative importance of
generalist species as mutualistic partners of specialist species)
shrinks. Study of such networks of species is still in its youth,
and the rules that generate these patterns of interaction are still
being worked out. In a new study, two researchers, Luis Santamaría
and Miguel Rodríguez-Gironés propose that two key mechanisms,
trait complementarity and
barriers to exploitation, go a
long way in explaining the structure of actual networks of plants
and their many pollinators. Researchers are just beginning to
understand the mechanisms governing the complex network interactions
between plants and pollinators.
The two mechanisms each arise from fundamental aspects of the
interaction between species. For example, an insect will be unable
to reach nectar in floral tubes longer than its proboscis; the tube
length sets up a barrier to some species, but not to others. Each
plant species also has a given flowering period. The specific
activity period of each insect species will complement the flowering
of some plant species more than others. Other barriers and other
complementary traits have been described for a variety of
plant—pollinator pairs. To explore the significance of these
mechanisms, the authors modelled plant—pollinator interaction
networks using a few simple rules, and compared their results to
data from real networks in real plant communities. The models
incorporated from one to four barrier or complementary traits, or a
combination of two of each. They also tested two variations of a
“neutral” interaction model, in which species interact randomly,
based simply on their relative abundance. Different models did
better at mimicking different aspects of real networks, but the two
that performed best overall were the combination model and one of
the neutral models. The authors argue that the neutral model,
despite its appealing simplicity, can be discounted because it
requires key assumptions regarding species abundances and random
interaction that conflict with empirical observations of real
communities. In contrast, the model combining barriers and
complementary traits matches well with observed plant—pollinator
interactions. Barriers alone would mean that pollinators with the
longest proboscis would be supreme generalists, able to feed on any
flower, causing perfect network nestedness; while complementarity
alone would mean that specialist pollinators do not interact
primarily with generalist plants, causing unrealistically low
network nestedness. Instead, the authors suggest, a combination of
barriers and complementary traits accounts for the pattern of
specialists and generalists seen in real pollination networks. The
superiority of the combination model also has implications for
understanding floral evolution. A common principle has been that
plants co-evolve with their most-efficient pollinator to strengthen
the complementarity of their matching adaptations. Barriers,
however, while reducing exploitation by inefficient pollinators, may
also interfere with pollination by efficient ones. Nonetheless, the
results of the present study indicate that barriers are likely to
play an important role in pollinator networks, suggesting that
co-evolution with the most-efficient pollinator is not the sole
factor governing floral evolution.
Sex and size difference
How Does One Sex Grow Larger Than The Other? Why are males larger than females in some animal species (such as most mammals), females larger than males in others (such as most insects), and why are the sexes alike in yet other species (such as several birds)? Further, how is such sexual size dimorphism achieved when it exists? If males and females grow at the same rate, then the larger sex has to extend its growth period. Alternatively, the larger sex can grow faster.
In an interesting International research effort, a group of 13 researchers from 10 countries investigated the latter questions using comparative data on 155 species of insects and spiders (arthropods) from 7 major groups. The results, published in the February issue of The American Naturalist, suggest that, generally, growth rate differences between the sexes are more important than growth period differences in mediating size dimorphism in arthropods. Nevertheless, depending on the species group, males and females tend to have equal growth periods (beetles and water striders), males have longer growth periods than females (two groups of flies), or males have shorter growth periods than females (so-called protandry), albeit not quite in proportion to the size difference between the sexes (spiders, butterflies, and Hymenoptera, i.e. bees, ants, wasps, and alike). As in most arthropod groups females are larger, they must therefore generally grow faster, an interesting pattern markedly different from primates and birds, which were also analyzed and in which differences in growth period between the sexes were generally more dominant. Three potential explanations for why female arthropods can grow faster than males are discussed. The most intriguing of these explanations is that, although it is generally cheaper to produce (small) sperm than (large) eggs, it may be costlier to produce male gonads and genitalia than it is to produce female gonads and genitalia. As a result, males might need more time to mature at larger body sizes.
This world-wide collaboration developed because most people work and thus have data on only particular animal groups. Wolf Blanckenhorn of the Zoological Museum at the University of Zurich in Switzerland called together all these researchers to investigate this specific idea about the evolution of sexual size dimorphism that had occupied him for quite some time.
Arthropods Result from Sex Differences in Development Time?” The American Naturalist, volume 169 (2007), pages 245--257.
Note: This story has been adapted from a recent news release issued by University of Chicago Press Journals.
Radio tags track wasp behaviour Most beekeepers will be aware of the differences between ‘social’
bees and solitary bees, but a study of the paper wasp P. Canadensis
has shown that they take their social responsibilities a stretch
further.
 |
| The very social Polistes Canadensis. |
|
Wasps fitted with minuscule radio tags have helped scientists
shed light on the insects’ behaviour. Rather than just tending their
home colonies, the worker wasps also buzzed into nearby
relative-holding nests, helping raise the young, the team said.
The researchers believed the insects were boosting their chances of
propagating their genes by nurturing relatives in multiple nests.
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) study is published in Current
Biology.
Nest drifting, which is where individual insects move between
different nests, has been described in a few different species of
social insects, but it has always been a puzzle as to why they have
done this. It has also been very difficult to quantify - the
standard way is to mark the wasps with paint and then carry out nest
censuses - so the researchers developed a new method.”
To track the wasps, the team fitted the insects with Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) tags and placed sensors at the entrance of
each nest to record their movements, in real time, in and out of the
nests.
Passing genes
The researchers, working in the tropics of Panama, looked at an
extended colony of 33 nests belonging to a species of paper wasp
called Polistes canadensis.
In each nest, they tagged every female worker (those in the colony
responsible for nest maintenance, food gathering and care of the
brood), fitting a total of 422 with the RFID tags.
They found that 56% of the population, drifted from nest to nest,
many more than previous studies had estimated. After further
observations, the ZSL team ruled out that the wasps were lost,
confused by their tags or trying to lay eggs in their neighbours’
nests in a bout of social parasitism. Instead, it found the wasps
were helping to raise their relatives’ young.
Worker wasps do not reproduce themselves, but by raising relatives -
who share their genes - they can pass on genes indirectly, explained
Dr Sumner.
And these workers are gaining indirect fitness benefit by helping to
raise relatives on lots of different nests rather just than their
home nests.
This would be particularly crucial with wasps that face a high
likelihood of getting their nests destroyed, such as the P.
canadensis.
Can the Subcutaneous Injection Of Pollen-extract Ward Off
Symptoms Of Hayfever ?
Injecting small amounts of pollen-extract just below the skin in
people who have hayfever can desensitize them to the pollen and
reduce their symptoms. It also reduces the amount of medication they
use
 |
| Has anecdotal evidence on the use of pollen to
cure hayfever become scientific fact? It seems that
this may now be the case. |
|
These are the conclusions from a Cochrane Review of this therapy.
The review pooled data from 51 trials involving a total of 2871
patients, 1645 of whom received an active treatment, while 1226
received an inactive placebo. Treatment consisted of an average of
18 injections spread over a range of times from three days to three
years. The review found that the treatment was safe, with serious
adverse reactions to the therapy occurring in only four patients;
one of whom had been given a placebo. Three had an anaphylactic
reaction and one had an attack of asthma. All of them recovered
fully and none dropped out of the trial as a result of these
side-effects.
“Because of the very low, but real, risk of an adverse reaction,
this treatment should only given in facilities that have full
resuscitation back up. Unfortunately, in the UK, this means that it
can only be given in specialized centres, which greatly limits its
use,” says Review Authors Moises Calderon, a Senior Clinical Fellow
in the Department of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine at the Royal
Brompton Hospital, London, and Professor Aziz Sheikh, Primary Care
Research and Development at the University of Edinburgh.
Adverse reactions to injections include itching of the nose and
eyes, redness of the face, itching of the throat with cough,
moderate wheezing and hives. The review reported two cases of
anaphylaxis, a serious allergic reaction, among patients receiving
injections. For the most part, adverse reactions that occurred were
generally mild, and those that were not responded to injections of
adrenaline, the review noted.
The risk of an adverse reaction also means that it should not be
given to people who also have asthma.
The Cochrane Review concluded that injection immunotherapy is a safe
and valid treatment for patients with hayfever, and particularly
those who have not responded to other treatments.
The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a
publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international
organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews
draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after
considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials
on a topic.
Sex and the drunken bee
Last year we reported on the study of inebriation in bees which
helped scientists to further understand alcoholism and drunkenness
in humans. (We are evidently alike in this respect). But let’s take
the subject further and look at inebriation and sex! Do the two go
together? They can do.
Following some 2002/3 research on odour compound detection by male
euglossine bees, a paper researched and published by F. P. SCHIESTL*
and D. W. ROUBIK^ demonstrates that male euglossine bees are
attracted by the scent of certain orchid flowers where they collect
odor substances and thereby pollinate flowers. Although this
behavior has attracted considerable research interest, the purpose
of the odor collection behavior remains elusive. New research could
show us why.
Some plants reportedly rely on using intoxicating chemicals to
produce inebriated bees, and use this inebriation as part of their
reproductive strategy.
The South American Bucket Orchid (Coryanthes sp.), an epiphyte, is a
plant that some claim uses this mechanism. The bucket orchid
attracts male euglossine bees with its scent from a variety of
aromatic compounds. The bees store these compounds in specialized
spongy pouches inside their swollen hind legs, as they appear to use
the scent as part of their courtship dances in order to attract
females.
However, the flower is constructed in such a way as to make the
surface almost impossible to cling to, with smooth,
downward-pointing hairs; the bees commonly slip and fall into the
fluid in the bucket, and the only navigable route out is a narrow,
constricting passage that either glues a “pollinium” (a pollen sack)
on their body (if the flower has not yet been visited) or removes
any pollinium that is there (if the flower has already been
visited). The passageway constricts after a bee has entered, and
holds it there for a few minutes, allowing the glue to dry and
securing the pollinium. It has been suggested that this process
involves “inebriation” of the bees but this has never been
confirmed.
 |
| The South American bucket Orchid stands accused
of inebriating bees to further its own ends! |
|
In this way, the bucket orchid passes its pollen from
flower to flower. This mechanism is almost but not quite species
specific, as it is possible for a few closely-related bees to
pollinate any given species of orchid, as long as the bees are
similar in size and are attracted by the same compounds. The Gongora
horichiana orchid was suspected by of producing pheromones like a
female euglossine bee and even somewhat resembles a female
euglossine bee shape, using these characteristics to spread its
pollen. However, this seems unlikely, given that no one has ever
documented that female euglossines produce pheromones; male
euglossines produce pheromones using the chemicals they collect from
orchids, and these pheromones attract females, rather than the
converse, as one researcher suggests. Others observed that bees of
the species eulaema and xylocopa exhibit symptoms of inebriation
after consuming nectar from the orchids Sobralia violacea and
Sobralia rosea.
*Geobotanical Institute ETH
Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008 Z¨urich
^Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama Journal of Chemical
Ecology, Vol. 29, No. 1, January 2003 (°C 2003)
Originally published online November 22, 2002,
For those interested, the web site below shows exactly how the bees
transfer and spread these odours on their bodies.
http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/MathNat/Zoologie/eltz/euglossine.htm
ARTICLES Back to top
The Honey Bee Family
Recently, in conversation with a beekeeper, I realised that I really
hadn’t much of a clue as to the place of honey bees in the order of
things and had to rush to a text to remind myself. So for all those
other readers who want a quick reference, here it is.
A quick reminder of the honey bee family and what it all means in
English.
| Group |
Name |
English Equivalent |
Kingdom
Phyllum
Class
Order
Sub-order
Section
Super Family
Family
Sub-Family
Genera
Species |
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta (Hexapoda)
Hymenoptera
Apocrita
Aculeata
Apidae
Apinae
Apis
cerana
dorsata
florea
mellifera |
Animal (with)
jointed legs,
six in number,
4 membrane-like wings,
possessing a sting.
Bees (20,000 species)
Social bees
Honeybees.
Eastern honeybee
Giant honeybee
Little honeybeeWestern
honeybee |
A Day at the Office
By Chad
How was your Day at the Office?
I write this article several hours after spending all day selling
honey at a cold and windy stall outside the Outlet Village in
Swindon.
I suppose dealing with customers is an intrinsically necessary,
though tiresome occupation when working on farmers’ markets. Whereas
the vast majority of the public are well-meaning, polite and
engaging, there are those who continually try to thwart my efforts
to be pleasant. Anyone who has ever worked on a stall, maybe anyone
who has worked in retail, or maybe just anyone who has ever worked
will know that it is the rudeness of others that can really grate on
ones nerves and make a potentially nice day, less so.
Being a teacher, I cannot stand to see children that have failed to
receive their healthy and correct dose of discipline by the age of
two. Though I suppose the blame ultimately lies with the parents, I
reckon most two year olds are self aware enough to know right from
wrong; their sticky little grabbing hands aren’t displaying
playfulness, I’m sure it’s malicious intent.
These children fall into two categories, (as defined by the
behaviour of their parents.) I will summarise both. There are those
children who have beaten their parent(s) into submission, their
parents are at their wit’s end, they have probably played-up all
day, so, when the child decides my honey stall is the next play-area
the parents are too numb to their surroundings to react to their
frantic behaviour so that it is down to me to fend them off.
Then there is the other variety of child, this one has been brought
up by parents who believe that fair discipline and good manners will
rub off on their child passively, the best word to describe these
children is feral.
As my honey may ultimately be bought for the feral child in
question, whose sticky fingers are everywhere and ruining my efforts
to display good hygiene, I cannot stop the child from tasting the
honey, in fact I must actively encourage this. I have learned that
children will rarely take a prepared tasting stick from me, this may
be because some idiot taught them not to accept things from
strangers, but instead they are taught that, Chad’s Honey stall is a
holistically tactile experience where the privilege of getting to
dip the stick is as rewarding as the sweet, sweet taste of summer
that Chad’s Honey brings.
The novelty of certain situations has worn off, like when the child
dips their stick into the sample pot, tastes the honey, smiles or
makes appropriate noises of joy and then sticks the same licked
stick back into the pot. There then follows a thousand apologies
from mum: Dad, of course, never apologies, he just tells sed child
off which, when the child then cries, is as good as an apology.
There is also the dexterity test; many members of the public seem
quite slow to understand that liquids run. I now always
instinctively say, ‘make sure you twiddle the stick.’ I loose count
of the number of scowls I receive from angry mums who have
Sunday-best tops to wash when they get home because their son or
daughter was too kack-handed to roll the tasting stick. I love it
when adults (and sadly it’s usually men) get it all down their
fronts. This is usually a result of them trying to get far too much
honey on to the stick, greed, greed, greed.
Mind you, I like greedy customers. Greed, though sinful, is good for
business. My best customers are not thin. What I cannot stand, is
the greedy customer who doesn’t want to buy anything. If there is
one thing worse than that, it is the customer who tries the honey,
tells you that it isn’t to their taste, or that it’s too sweet, too
runny or too stiff and then helps themselves to some more, reasserts
his or her opinion before walking off. Like I wanted your opinion,
****! Or the customer who eats half of the sample pot before looking
and checking that you don’t have cut comb, before asking if you have
cut comb and then telling you that that it is cut comb they were
really after.
I am very nervous of the large family group that can sometimes
descend on my stall; they are like industrial Hoovers that treat my
stall like a bird table. Mum, Dad, three children, the neighbour’s
children and two other extraneous adults, take two sample sticks
each and pass the sample pot around several times, often remarking
on how delicious the honey is, before saying a (usually very honest)
thank you before walking away without purchase.
I don’t mind the excuse, ‘I might come back later.’ Nor do I mind
the very up-front ‘I am not going to buy anything today,’ I like
people to try my honey. It is nice when people say nice things about
it. It’s just the ignorance of some which gets under my skin
sometimes, that’s all.
Happy New Year.
BOOK AND FILM REVIEWS Back to top
A New Book
There's a new Northern bee Books Book- William Charles Cotton MA
1813 - 1879 Priest, Missionary and Bee Master, by Arthur R Smith, In
1841 Cotton decided, against his father's wishes, to go with George
Selwyn, who had just been appointed as the first Bishop of New
Zealand. he gained first class honours in Classics at Oxford, he
wrote a number of books on beekeeping Available at £9.00 post paid
from Northern Bee Books.
The Rev W.C. Cotton is of especial interest to New Zealand
beekeepers because he arrived in the very early days of colonisation
as an assistant to the first bishop of New Zealand (Bishop George
Selwyn) in 1842. He tried to carry his bees all the way across the
world to this new land but the record shows that due to a problem
with the ship he may not have completed this mission. He did however
engage in beekeeping, and also beekeeping instruction to colonists
and Maori, and his book ‘Manual for New Zealand Beekeepers published
in 1848 is a classic of its kind.
Earlier, whilst still in England he had published his ‘My Bee Book’
from which all beekeepers can learn even now. Cotton was a
progressive beekeeper who wanted little to do with the (at the time)
accepted beekeeping methods where bees were killed for the harvest
and swarming encouraged.
In my opinion, he more than anyone else provides a written link
between the beekeepers of the old style and the new breed of
beekeepers who wanted to use discovery and science to help them in
their endeavours.
 |
| A wood cut from Cotton’s ‘My Bee Book’ showing
his ship departing England for New Zealand 1842 |
|
RECIPE OF THE MONTH Back to top
Monkfish with honey
This dish combines two very healthy foods, fish and honey and is
truly delicious. It comes from an old Andalucian/Moorish recipe
which I saw repeated in a national newspaper a few years ago. It is
easy to make and prepare and well worth trying.
4 small monkfish tails
1 large onion, finely sliced
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 medium red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
175ml (6fl oz) fish or light chicken stock
4 tbsp sherry vinegar
1/2 tsp saffron threads, steeped in 2 tbsp hot water
4 tbsp runny honey
75g (23/4oz) raisins, plumped up in hot water
55g (2oz) toasted pine nuts
The leaves of a medium bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
Heat the olive oil in a frying-pan with a lid, season the fish and
quickly sauté it on each side until it is just golden, not cooked
through. Remove the fish.
Now cook the onion in the same pan, with a little more oil if
needed, until it just begins to turn golden. Add the cinnamon and
chilli and cook for a couple more minutes. Pour on the stock and add
the saffron, vinegar and honey. Drain the raisins and add those too,
along with the pine nuts. Season, and throw in half the coriander.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for ten minutes.
Put the fish on top of the onion mixture, spooning some of the
juices over it. Cover the pan and cook on a very low heat for about
eight minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Scatter with the
rest of the coriander and serve immediately.
HISTORICAL NOTE Back to top
Most beekeepers know that one hive of 60,000 bees can produce more
honey than two hives of 30,000 and research tells us why this is,
but this fact was known about as far back as the early 1800s by
progressive beekeepers such as W.C. Cotton. Cotton also believed
that the bees’ ability to thermoregulate the brood nest and keep it
up to temperature ensured that a hive joined to another hive thus
doubling the bees would eat no more honey than a single hive. In
this piece, he tells why he thinks this, and as usual he adds a
short homily on good behaviour as well:
‘The reason of it seems to be, that where there are many bees in
a hive, they can keep warm by hanging close together, instead of
eating; so that in a full hive, the same quantity of honey goes
further than in a weak one, as each bee eats less. They keep
themselves warm from the outside, and so do not require to be heated
inside; as a man who can when keeping bees, or any other honest way,
have a good coat on his back, is warm enough without a brandy
bottle’.
 |
| A Title Page from W.C. Cotton’s book which was
published in 1842 prior to his departure from
England for New Zealand. Cotton returned to the
England in 1849 and became the vicar of Frodsham. |
|
POEM OF THE MONTH Back to top
Continuing with the theme of The Reverend WC Cotton, this poem comes
directly from WC Cotton’s ‘My Bee Book’.
‘On entering Grantham from Stamford we pass through Well Lane. Forty
years ago (from 1838) a swarm of bees settled on the sign post of a
little inn at this place; they were hived and placed as the inn’s
sign, with this inscription:
“Stop, traveller, this wondrous sign explore,
And say, when you have viewed it o’er and o’er,
Now, Grantham, two rarities are thine,
A lofty steeple, and a living sign.”
Told to me by old Carrick, clothes cleaner to Christ Church, Oxon,
Free Mason, and Odd Fellow, as a recollection of forty years ago.
W.C.C.
LETTERS Back to top
Hi Jeremy, I have read with most interest your Beekeepers web site.
I am presently an undergraduate at Cardiff University and I am
studying Art and Aesthetics, final year 3. The medium I use to paint
with is Encaustic Wax, which I am sure you know is refined beeswax.
I am now researching, honey bees, beeswax, hives, history, use and
further potentials, industrial, hobbies, medication, and other
issues.
I am now preparing for my final degree show which will be held in
May 2007 at Cardiff University. In this show I am demonstrating the
importance of honey bees and the further of mankind, the preservation
of man kind, and other exciting issues. I intend to create a
installation in a studio which will replicate the inside of a
'beehive' complete with noise, activity, music, lights, movement, and
colour, along with the creation of the honey process in development.
I am looking for any information you may have that could help me in
this module, pictures, photographs, of the inside of beehives,
actual pieces of equipment used in bee hives. I will also be
painting pictures in Abstract, using coloured beeswax of various
issues, colours, patterns, shapes, and images. Any information you
may have will be greatly appreciated. If you are interested I could
see if I could organise permission for you and a colleague to see
this exhibition which will obviously be a private one. If the
exhibition is a success I intend to take it to London for a public
show.
I do hope you can help me as it is rather a specialist area, and
limited in resource available to me. Hope to hear from you. Best
regards.
My address is 31 Heol Tyddyn, Castle View, Caerphilly, CF831TH.
Wales. tel: 02920 888035. As above my Email is
edward_hntr@yahoo.co.uk
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Back to top
Saturday 3rd March 2007
- West Sussex Beekeepers Association Beekeeping
Convention. Venue: Lodge Hill Conference Centre, Watersfield,
Pulborough, West Sussex. Main Speakers, Rev Stephen Palmer, Michael
Badger and Richard Ball plus a choice of attending four from a total
of ten workshops. Further details from John Hunt on 01903 815655 or
email john_bateman_hunt@hotmail.com
Tuesday 24th, Wednesday 25th and Thursday
26th July 2007 - New Forest & Hampshire County
Show. The New Forest & Hampshire County Show is the
highlight of Hampshire’s social calendar featuring all the
attractions that have made it so popular for the best part of a
century, bringing traditional country pursuits, new exhibitions and
demonstrations to this unique event. Put the dates in your diary
now.
There is a full range of horse and livestock competitions plus a
rabbit section, cage birds, and honey bees. The Countryside area
features woodland activities and demonstrations of rural sports,
plus terrier and ferret racing. Other favourites include the
horticultural marquee featuring many nationally acclaimed flower
entries, and the Southern National Vegetable Association
Championships.
With over 600 trade stands there is a wide choice of stalls to
visit many offering goods never to be found in the shops, including
antiques, crafts, and the best of Hampshire food and produce.
We also have the Forest Fun Factory arena, a haven for children
with all day entertainment. These are just a few of the many
attractions you will find at this year’s show – you will be spoilt
for choice.
A pay as you go shuttle bus service runs from Brockenhurst
mainline station right into the showground, so let the train take
the strain.
Discounted tickets available on line at http://www.newforestshow.co.uk/
or on the credit card hotline 01590 622409 from June 1st 2007.
Additional information Show opens 08.15 to 1800 Web site full of
information – http://www.newforestshow.co.uk/
Full Title is New Forest & Hampshire County
Show.
Friday 16th March 2007 at 7.30 pm
- Pollen in forensic science - Michael Keith-Lucas
The Sutton Hall, Stockcross, near Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury Beekeepers’ Association warmly invites you to the 25th
annual Leaver Memorial Lecture, to be given by Dr Michael
Keith-Lucas who is a micro-biologist lecturing in the Plant Sciences
Department of Reading University. His research interests include
allergy, plant taxonomy, and the ecology and history of woodlands.
He is an expert on forensic biology and pollen and is currently
working with research projects on pollen analysis of archaeological
sites
in the Thames Valley.
The lecture is free and all beekeepers in the region are most
welcome. We should therefore be very grateful if you would publicise
the lecture amongst local beekeepers.
Directions:-
• Stockcross is on the A4000 just off the A4 on the western edge of
Newbury.
• If you are coming from the north or south, use the A34 and take
the A4 exit towards Hungerford.
However do not enter the A4 but, on the western roundabout, take the
exit for the
A4000 signposted to Wickham, Stockcross and RAF Welford.
• If you are coming from the east of Newbury, drive through Newbury
on the A4 until you cross the A34 and then turn onto the A4000
signposted to Wickham, Stockcross and RAF Welford.
When in the middle of Stockcross village, turn south onto Church
Road. The Hall is on the right after about 100 yards. The Hall has
some parking space but cars may be parked (considerately, please)
along Church Road and Glebe Lane.
Sat 14th April 2007 9:00am
Wisborough Green Division - West Sussex BKA
Beekeeping Course
Suitable for Beginners, Improvers, and Non - Beekeepers
At:- Village Hall, Lower Street, Pulborough, West Sussex. RH20 2BF.
Sat 14th April 2007 assemble from 9.00 for 9.30-5.00 p.m.
| How to learn about bees |
Different kinds of bees |
| How bees live naturally and how we can manage them |
What bees collect - nectar, pollen, propolis, water |
| How bees store the crop |
The 3 castes, queen, drones, and workers |
| What happens in a beehive and where |
How to start |
| The Wisborough Green Beginners Package |
Choosing the type of hive and why |
| Siting hives |
Essential equipment |
| Protective clothing |
Handling bees |
| Colony Management |
Swarming |
| Making increase |
Dealing with the crop |
| Feeding |
The colony in winter |
Course fee £25 (£15 under16’s) per head to include
lunch, refreshments, and a booklet “Basic Beekeeping”. One free
place for the organiser of a party of 10 or more as one booking.
Enquiries:- Roger Patterson
r.patterson@pattersonpressings.co.uk 01403 790 637
Booking:- Andrew Shelley, Oakfield, Cox Green, Rudgwick, Horsham.
RH12 3DD. 01403 822 314
Cheques payable to WSBKA .
Web Site Visit us on
www.wsbka.org.uk [“Divisions”] [“Wisborough Green”]
Prepare yourself for the coming season – now
Pulborough Village Hall is off Lower Street. Turn down next to the
Oddfellows Arms, right to the bottom and turn right into the car
park. If this is full then use the main car park immediately before
it.
Sunday 10th June 2007
YORKSHIRE BEEKEEPERS’ FIELD DAY.
Sunday 10th June 2007.
Location – 5 mins walk from York station
Themes – Bee Health and Bee Products
Speakers – Dr David Aston, Richard Ball - National Bee Inspector,
Norman Carreck, Paul Metcalf, Heather Robson
Subjects – Integrated Bee Health Management,
Bee Disease Research, Microscopy,
Resistance Testing,
Bee products.
Tickets - £12.
Book early to select options.
Contact:
Colin & Debbie Hattee
Email: hatteehouse@talktalk.net
Tel: 01430 860972
QUOTE OF THE MONTH Back to top
This month’s quote or piece of advice comes from a noted beemaster and author of the 1700s and tells of the bees’ need for cleanliness and pure
surroundings and where not to place hives. So who was it that said
this:
‘Let them not near the baleful yew tree dwell,
Nor broil crabs near, which give a nauseous smell,
Nor near the teaming, stench of muddy ground
Place their abodes.’
So if any of you were thinking of broiling crabs in the apiary,
think again!
Editor: David Cramp
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