

To celebrate World Bee Day, Otley Film Society in association with Wharfedale Beekeepers present Maya the Bee 3 at Otley Courthouse.
Sunday 22nd May at 15.00 doors open 14.30
More information about World Bee Day
Keeping Bees in Wharfedale since 1921
To celebrate World Bee Day, Otley Film Society in association with Wharfedale Beekeepers present Maya the Bee 3 at Otley Courthouse.
Sunday 22nd May at 15.00 doors open 14.30
More information about World Bee Day
The April issue of Combings has been sent out by email to all members.
The December issue of Combings has been sent out by email to all members. Below are some links to recent bee-related articles in the news which are mentioned in this edition.
Honeybees use social distancing when mites threaten hives – study
Bee population steady in Dutch cities thanks to pollinator strategy
David Heaf: Beekeeping Uses of Chemicals and why we should stop using them
Efficacy of propolis as an adjunct treatment for hospitalized COVID-19
This short article, by David Heaf was published in July this year.
Beekeeping: Uses of chemicals and why we should stop using them
It uses language which may be unfamiliar to some readers, for example…
Microbiome: this is the community of microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses) that inhabit a particular environment. So the bees’ microbiome is within the hive and their gut microbiome is within their gut.
Pyrethroids: insecticides are a chemical class of active ingredients found in many of the modern insecticides
This year’s Honey Show and AGM will be held at Ilkley Rugby Club on Friday 12th November. Members can download the schedule and entry form below. This has been changed in the light of Covid precautions to remove the cake classes.
More details of the evening will be emailed to members directly.
BBKA has announced that this year’s Asian Hornet Week will run from 6th – 10th September. They are asking beekeepers to put an hour aside every day to watch for hornets hawking their hives during the week.
There is more information on their website.
Also, the annual Hornet & Wasp Photo Competition is currently running, again full details can be found on the website.
This petition has been on the web since September but is gaining little traction.
Both BBKA and YBKA encourage all members to sign this petition.
The BBKA says “The problem is that at least one beekeeping business has said that they want to import bees to the UK through Northern Ireland. The bees they are sourcing come from southern Italy where a serious invasive species and parasite of bees, the Small Hive Beetle is established. The inspections on bees are extremely limited and we are fearful that a small, clubbed antenna, beetle will be able to evade their scrutiny and be imported to the mainland.”
You can sign the petition here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/577603
You are also encouraged to write to your MP regarding this issue, emphasising the following points:
BBKA have published the videos of the lectures by Tom Seeley which were to be presented at the Spring Convention. They’re available on the BBKA website.
Beekeeping Associations from around the UK are warning that import arrangements since Brexit are causing an imminent and serious risk that the exotic bee pest the Small Hive Beetle (SHB) could be introduced to the British Isles.
for more information, see this link
https://www.bbka.org.uk/News/serious-risk-of-exotic-bee-pest-being-imported
Newly discovered strategy in Asian bees repels killer hornets that can massacre whole hives
Read the research article here:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242668