Author Archives: Emily Scott

About Emily Scott

I am a UK beekeeper who has recently moved from London to windswept, wet Cornwall. I first started keeping bees in the Ealing Beekeepers Association’s local apiary in 2008, when I created this blog as a record for myself of my various beekeeping related disasters and - hopefully! - future successes.

Bee maths infographics

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Emily Scott

I’ve been doing some more playing around with the Visme infographic maker and produced these as a little reminder for myself of some ‘bee maths’. Memorising the number of days it takes for an egg to hatch, the larva’s cell … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 8 Comments

Bee hives infographic

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Emily Scott

I’ve been playing around with Visme and made this infographic, based on hive count data from the National Bee Unit. This data is based on voluntary data supplied by UK beekeepers, so is likely to be an underestimate – but … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Magic of drone congregation areas

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Emily Scott

Notes from a talk by Dr Stephen Fleming – co-editor of Beecraft magazine; he keeps his bees on Watership Down. Back in October Stephen spoke to a group of us gathered for the Cornwall Beekeepers’ Association and West Cornwall Beekeepers’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee behaviour | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Back to beekeeping

Posted on July 9, 2023 by Emily Scott

It’s been a long time. A lot has happened. I’ve moved house. I’ve sold my bees, caught a swarm, given that away, nearly given up on bees completely, and then started going to meetings at my local association apiary, about … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 22 Comments

The arrival of the bees

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Emily Scott

A couple of months ago, I put a bait hive out in my garden. An empty National brood box, apart from a dark old brood comb pushed to one side and some lemongrass oil smeared on the walls. Then I … Continue reading →

Posted in Swarms | Tagged | 19 Comments

What’s flowering now – Cornwall, April 2022

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Emily Scott

Some photos of the flowers I’ve seen out and about in Cornwall and in my garden over the last couple of weeks. I like to see what’s in flower and available for the bees. Below is my miniature apple tree. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 8 Comments

Bees in January

Posted on January 20, 2022 by Emily Scott

And so we’re in 2022… another year for us… but the first and only winter for my bees. Huddled in their nest, resting their wings, winter bees tend to live longer than summer bees. But still their life-span is measured … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Bees – off!

Posted on November 12, 2021 by Emily Scott

Some of my longer-term readers may remember that I had bees in my chimney stack. This had turned into a tricky problem, with quotes of £4,000+ to remove them and reseal the chimney. It wasn’t even my fault (honestly!!) as … Continue reading →

Posted in Urban beekeeping | 11 Comments

An unexpected arrival

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Emily Scott

I’d left some equipment behind in the old location I used to keep bees, and hadn’t got around to moving it yet. Some new visitors took advantage of this des res – a brood box with a few frames in, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Moving bees

Posted on June 20, 2021 by Emily Scott

A few weeks ago I moved my two little colonies in nuc boxes to a new location nearer to home. I’d never had to move bees before, so asked other beekeepers for tips beforehand and as luck would have it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments