On Monday June 18th a group of fifteen from Llanion, as part of the Pembroke Dock Midsummer Festival and organised by Llanion Communities First, enjoyed a morning learning about bees. This started with identification of bumble bees facilitated by representatives from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and at noon they visited our beekeeping centre at Scolton Manor. John Dudman provided them with a summary of the natural history on the honeybee followed by a short walk to see the hives from the public viewing path and then they saw and had explained the live video feeds in what will become the honey workshop. As an unexpected treat (!) they were able to see not one but two swarms hanging in a tree. The morning was sponsored by The Cooperative’s Plan Bee campaign.
Events
Nosema testing April 9th 2011
Bees over-wintering are mostly confined to their hives and this crowding together with the extended life of workers provides conditions for the build up of nosema spores in the abdomen. Find out more about Nosema on Beebase.
We are running a nosema testing workshop on Saturday, April 9th starting at 9.30 and closing at about 3.00 pm. This will be held at the Picton Community Centre adjacent to the County Hall car park which is free on Saturdays. If nosema is diagnosed, treatment is advised by dosing feed with Fumidil B.
For this workshop, members must bring a sample of bees from each hive, collected as described in these instructions. If anyone has any innovative ways of collecting flying bees we would be glad to hear about them.
Welsh Beekeepers’ Association 2011 Convention
The Welsh Beekeepers’ Association 2011 Convention, is on Saturday 26th March and starts at 9.00am. Tea & coffee will be available from 8.30am. The location is Hafod-a-Hendre Hall, Royal Welsh Agricultural Showground, Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, Powys, LD2 3SY. Admission for Adults is £8.00: Juniors (under 17) get in FREE! It will be a great day for all beekeepers, so we hope to see you there!! Check out the WBKA website for more information.
Wing Morphometry Course
The Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) are organising a wing morphometry weekend at Stoneleigh on 20/21 November 2010.
Morphometry is a useful tool for helping to identify the various sub-species of Apis mellifera and is particularly valuable in a breeding programme where it can indicate the racial purity of a sample of bees. This course will enable attendees to make two simple measurements of wing veins using a computer program and then plot the results on a graph.
This course is particularly suitable for those who wish to identify native and near native bees. Attendees will need to bring their own computers (which must have Microsoft Excel) ; detailed instructions will be given before the event. Cost – free to BIBBA members, £30 to non-members.
Booking is essential as spaces are limited. Book with Dinah Sweet dinah@dinahsweet.com
Course enquiries Roger Patterson roger-patterson@btconnect.com
BIBBA (www.bibba.com) aims to help those who are interested in our native and near native bees.
County Show Success
We had a very successful show with lots of interest in the bees and our publicity material including a ‘Honey Bee Facts’ flyer produced for the first time for use at the show. Thanks you to the existing members who came and said hello to us. We also had a number of enquiries from people who want to to start beekeeping – good luck to those of you who want to take this further.
Pembrokeshire Beekeepers' Association 