Hon. Newsletter Editor:
Peter Edwards
E-mail: beekeepers@stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk

I am pleased to be able to confirm that our Safari will take place on Saturday 21 June. A separate programme for the day is enclosed and Association members may join or leave the Safari at any point - visiting any or all of the apiaries.

Richard Lindsey, our Seasonal Bee Inspector, will examine colonies for signs of brood disease and varroa. He will show those present how to examine colonies with this in mind. He will also make general observations about the colonies. He will not criticise the beekeeper (not even me!) but may make suggestions to help them improve their bee management skills. It should be an educational experience. Our thanks to those who have volunteered their apiaries.

Please support this event!
Peter Edwards

The National Trust is running a series of "Field Day" events focusing upon green issues, wildlife and traditional rural industry. Charlecote Park is one of the chosen venues.

The Association will have a stand at this event with our usual displays, observation hive and honey for sale; it has also been suggested that we could have do-it-yourself candle rolling which could generate some income. We now need volunteers to help with setting up the stand and manning it over the two days. If you would like to help - even if it is only for an hour or so - please ring me. These events are usually very pleasant occasions promoting our craft to the general public and also allowing time to look around the other stands.
Peter Edwards

At the end of June last year I noticed the bees outside two of my hives crawling around on the flight board and on the grass in front of the hive, together with a few dead bees. It looked like a classic case of spray poisoning, but I knew of no spraying in the area. The two hives were the strongest among those that I keep at home, and I am able to keep a close watch for any local spraying. However, unlike the effects of spray damage, the majority of bees and the other three hives seemed unaffected. Also the effects continued for several days. Spraying would have given an immediate, more serious effect of limited duration.

We have a medium sized lime tree in our garden and every year when in flower I am happy to see it alive with bees of all kinds, and this year was no exception. However, I noticed that on the ground round the tree were a surprising number of dead bees, mostly small bumble bees, but also a few honey bees. At first I was suspicious that this was the cause, since during more than 25 years of keeping bees at home I had not previously had this problem, but the effects lasted exactly for the time that the tree was in flower.

I remembered reading somewhere that some species of lime were poisonous to bees. Sure enough Ted Hooper mentions two species which have been known to poison bees in some seasons. These are Tilia petiolaris and Tilia orbicularis. Consulting the Hillier Gardeners’ Guide to Trees and Shrubs I found that Tilia euchlora has flowers that ‘tend to have a narcotic effect on bees’ and Tilia tomentosa ‘flowers are toxic to bees’. Examining our tree I concluded it was none of these, but Tilia cordata or ‘small-leaved lime’.

It would be interesting to know if any other members suffered similar effects last year and have any suggestions as to the exact cause of the problem. Why do bees collect nectar from a source that is going to harm them? Perhaps it was due to the wet weather making the nectar particularly watery (it gives a very pale watery honey) and this gave problems to the bees having to take on a lot of nectar with little energy content. I had hoped for enlightenment from Ted Hooper’s book, but his comment is: ‘Lime has always been a great mystery to me’!
Mike Osborne

The recent talk by Chris Ivin of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust was attended by 17 members who heard about the management of Hampton Lucy Wood to encourage the wildlife. Initially some of the larger trees, such as the fast growing Turkey Oaks, were cut down, leaving 6 to 8 standard trees to the acre. The work now consists mainly of coppicing the smaller trees, such as hawthorn and hazel, on a 15 year cycle in order to let the light in to certain areas for the benefit of the plants and insects. The coppiced wood is sold for use as hedging stakes, bean poles, etc. The increasing presence of muntjac deer has meant that the coppiced stools have to be protected with cleared brash to prevent the new shoots being eaten. The slides showed the great variety of plant life in the wood, with those such as wood sorrel and yellow dead nettle indicating the presence of ancient woodland. The woods are well known for the wonderful displays of primroses and bluebells, but more unusually has been the occasional finding of the common spotted orchid and the stinking or wild iris. The variety of insects is truly amazing, with an English oak tree supporting up to 400 species. Over 90 species of hoverfly have been found in the wood, and it was good to know that white admiral and purple hairstreak butterflies can be found. Particularly interesting were the aerial photographs and a map of 1736, showing the wood then covering 70 acres. Briefly in the 14th century an area of the wood had been cultivated, giving rise to the presence of ridge and furrow, and resulting in plants such as spurge laurel indicating secondary woodland in that area. We all enjoyed a most interesting talk with some wonderful photographs.
Mike Osborne

Our meeting on 28 February (I am trying to catch up!) explored the main features of the internal and external anatomy of the honeybee. This can be a very dry subject, as anyone who has struggled through 'Anatomy of the honeybee' by Snodgrass will vouch, but in the comfort of the refurbished and superbly equipped lecture theatre we used a number of different technologies to illustrate the many fascinating features of these incredible creatures.

Denis began by recalling how, during the course of his work in the 1960s, he was fortunate enough to have access to a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and - even better - one that was not fully employed! This enabled him to produce a set of slides showing many of the external features of honeybees. Denis explained the workings of the microscope and the need for objects for examination to be plated with gold. The slides were excellent and interesting not only from the beekeeping point of view, but also as a historical record of bee microscopy.

After a coffee break, I made use of the overhead projection facilities to give a PowerPoint presentation covering the internal anatomy - alimentary canal, digestion, glands, circulation, respiration, the nervous and reproductive systems etc, ending with a look at the workings of the sting. Most of the illustrations were taken from 'Anatomy and Dissection of the Honeybee' by Dade. We also connected a digital camera to the projector and were able to project photographs to a very high standard; this demonstrated that we now have the ability to produce very professional presentations for future winter meetings - all that we need now is the time to do it!
Peter Edwards

Prices of bulk honey on the world markets have soared recently, mainly due to the continuing Chinese honey situation which, I understand, is not likely to be resolved for some considerable time yet. Australia also has major problems, with the worst drought for 100 years, bush fires destroying forage and the discovery of the small hive beetle. After a promising start, the crop in parts of Argentina is below expectations due to an unusually cold summer. In my own case, these increases have resulted in the situation where I could make more money by putting honey (rough strained) into barrels, than I could by storing, filtering to bottling standard, blending, seeding (for set honey), holding stocks of jars, bottling, labelling, delivering and invoicing! I have therefore increased my price to £1.95 per lb, which still represents excellent value and is certainly lower than in many parts of the UK - the average seems to be between £2.25 and £2.50 per lb. I note that Tesco - not noted for overpricing their products - are selling English honey at £2.65 per 12oz jar - the equivalent of £3.53 per lb!
Peter Edwards