Category Archives: Uncategorized

A day in the life of a beekeeper

Posted on March 20, 2019 by

The children’s clothes company JoJo Maman Bebe contacted me recently and asked me to write a post about ‘The day in the Life of a Beekeeper‘ – so here it is! A day in the life of a very small-scale … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

What’s flowering now: late February

Posted on February 26, 2019 by

This week the UK has been enjoying warm air from Africa and the Canary Islands coming our way – I even felt toasty enough today to happily sit outside eating lunch and walk around without a coat on. A record … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

How many honey bees are there? A 2019 update.

Posted on January 14, 2019 by

A year ago I wrote a post titled ‘How many honey bees are there?‘, after a question on Quora got me intrigued about whether any kind of data exists on worldwide honey bee numbers. Would anyone really have counted? Well, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 24 Comments

Book review: The History of Bees by Maja Lunde

Posted on December 13, 2018 by

I haven’t written for a while because it’s been a difficult few weeks. My little boy, Tommy, was very ill, first diagnosed with pneumonia and then with pericardial effusion – excess fluid around the heart. He needed an emergency operation … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 35 Comments

My latest beekeeping bungle – and how I fixed it

Posted on October 24, 2018 by

This autumn I made the classic error of giving bees too much space. I put an eke on top of the brood box to do Apiguard treatment. Then I went on holiday. The first opportunity I got to inspect the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

Book review: A honeybee heart has five openings by Helen Jukes

Posted on September 20, 2018 by

I first found out about this beekeeping memoir after reading a review of it on the Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group blog – Helen Jukes was a member of the group while she lived in Oxford. A Honeybee Heart has Five … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 6 Comments

Winter is coming – getting the bees ready for hail, frost and snow

Posted on August 8, 2018 by

You might think I’m crazy talking about winter. We’ve just had some of our hottest days of the year, when parts of England reached over 35°C. Yet the summer solstice was a summer bee’s lifetime ago. The bees are always … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments