Shropshire Beekeepers' Association

 

 

Newsletter : February 2008

The Shropshire Beekeepers Association lost one of its most distinguished members last month with the death of Natalie Hodgson. Our President, Brian Goodwin, has written a tribute in this edition and there is also a short account of a visit to her apiary.

1.      Editor's Notes

In my role as ADM representive I attended the BBKA’s meeting at Stoneleigh in January. There were about 100 people present, just over half of whom were delegates. Tim Lovatt chaired and referred, in his report to :

Veterinary Medicines Directive in relation to the use of Oxalic Acid ( i.e. only as a ‘hive-cleanser’). Status described as ‘still in the twilight zone’. Another meeting with the VMD is scheduled soon and the long term hope of BBKA is either to have bees re-classified out of the ‘food-producing animals’ group or to have a new ‘light-touch’ regime for licensing bee treatments. “There are implications at EU level, which implies a long process.”

Improved Government Funding for honeybee research.: given the refusal of the government to respond positively to the campaign for adequate funding, we are now moving into the next phase of raising public awareness of the problems. The recent press release (see January Newsletter) marks the start of that campaign and further media activity will follow. At an appropriate point, members will be asked to support the project by writing to the various players in the drama, as happened over the last successful funding battle.

Martin Tovey, in his President’s Report confirmed that membership has increased by just over 400 during the year, though there is a high ‘churn’ rate as evidenced by the fact that 2243 new membership packs were issued. [N.B. Three new associations: Newbury BKA, Vale & Downland BKA and Sedbergh BKA, plus the Northern Ireland Institute of Beekeepers, made successful applications to join BBKA at this ADM.] He also reported that there have been three large book donations to BBKA during the year, including 400 from the estate of past President, George Knights and a collection of books from Herbert Mace’s library. There has also been a cash bequest of £16,500, which will pay for the establishment of a proper reference library at Stoneleigh.

The Education & Husbandry Committee Report highlighted plans for the additional Members’ Day as part of the Spring Convention (i.e. Sunday). Sessions will include a second microscopy course; a queen-rearing course; a Basic Assessment workshop; garden design for beekeepers; cosmetics & household products and the AGMs of BDI & BIBBA

BBKA Examinations system, in particular anecdotal evidence of some variability in the standard from one year to the next. Various members involved in the scheme gave assurance about the quality control in place to ensure grade consistency. It was recommended that members contemplating entering would benefit from using the correspondence course to get to grips with the standard required and such issues as the management of time in the exam. Some members were able to confirm that the feedback provided through this route was very helpful. Several Associations spoke enthusiastically about their experience of the exam scheme and the way in which it was helping them attract and retain new beekeepers.

Elections: Tim Lovatt was elected President, to serve for the next two years. There were also elections to the Executive Committee and the Examination Board. Vacancies were such that all those nominated were elected.

Honorary Membership of BBKA was awarded to Sharon Blake who has been significantly involved in the development of BBKA News as a bi-monthly Newsletter.

Propositions from Associations [These were listed in last month’s Newsletter]

1. Interactive members’ register: Referred back with wider terms of reference. The discussion made it clear that this would involve much greater attention to security, the cost for which would be far more than had been suggested. Voting for amended proposition: For: 45, Ag: 7
   
   
2. New category of Junior Membership: After considerable discussion and comparison of other organisations’ arrangements this was referred back to the Executive for further consideration. Voting: For: 33, Ag. 20; Ab: 1
   
   
3. Constitutional amendments to allow Junior Members. There was no appetite for further revisions to the Constitution at this point, especially in view of the decision in 2 above. Voting: For 4; Ag: 42; Ab: 8.
   
   
4. Threat from Small Hive Beetle: It was pointed out that the ports are not necessarily the most vulnerable point, since it is more likely that foreign insects will come in with fruit/veg in sealed containers delivered directly to wholesale markets. However the Executive will continue to work with CSL/DEFRA to encourage effective screening. Vote: For: 51; Ag: 0; Ab: 1
   
   
5. Concern re Sex Offenders at BBKA Events: This is a difficult issue with a human rights dimension, though there is no quarrel with the intention. The Executive will pursue the matter further. Vote: For: 54; Ag: 0; Ab: 1
   
   
6. Associations to be encouraged to support research: General agreement with the thrust of this proposition. Vote: For: 40; Ag: 4; Ab: 5.
   
   
7. Increase in capitation: There was a proposal to move to a vote without discussion. This was agreed and the vote on the substantive motion also went in favour. Afterwards there was some criticism of the way the issue had been handled, i.e. having this proposition at the end of a long day when delegates would not want to prolong the meeting. Vote: For: 35; Ag: 14; Ab: 3.
   
   
8. Apimondia 2013: The rationale behind this was rehearsed as at the Forum last October. The initiative was well received. Vote: F: 47; Ag: 4; Ab: 7

2.      January Meeting Report

John Perkins had a full house for his talk in January on Selective Bee Breeding. He described his topic as being one step on from queen rearing because the focus was on the outcomes in terms of the progeny of the queen rather than just the production of queens for its own sake. He first pointed out that there are some factors affecting the success of queen breeding that are not always controllable, e.g. how well the queens were mated, which could be significant after a poor season like 2007. He suggested that the general qualities we would probably be aiming for in our colonies would be productivity, gentleness and general health, and that other desirable traits might include low swarming, early spring build-up, disease tolerance and rapid cell-building.

John emphasised that only the bee-breeder who regularly ‘weighs, measures and records’ the performance of her/his bees will achieve worthwhile results. He showed us sample record-keeping cards (ref: Ted Hooper) that he uses to ‘score’ the performance of his colonies/queens. He emphasised that to control the outcomes of a breeding programme it was essential to be able to flood an area with selected drones bringing the desirable characteristics of previously identified queens. To this end he stressed the need for beekeepers to work in groups (preferably with at least 50 colonies) in an apiary site that would not be populated by bees from elsewhere. The interest that beekeepers have in this topic was underlined by the attentiveness of the audience and the enthusiastic questioning that followed the presentation.

3.      February Meeting

The next meeting is on Wednesday 13th February at 7.30p.m. at Shirehall when we hope to hear Dr. S. Martin, one of the UK’s leading researchers into varroa, give an update into research on managing the threat it poses.

4.      Obituary: Natalie Hodgson

A well known Shropshire Beekeeper, Natalie Hodgson died on January 6th aged 95. Mrs Hodgson was the President of The Shropshire Beekeepers Association for over twelve years until 1998. She was an active supporter of the association, attending its meetings until December last year. Born in Coventry in 1912 she was educated at Sherbourne and The Sorbonne, Paris. She was taught to fly at Orly Airport and was a fluent French and German speaker, having also lived in Berlin and Dresden. She married Bengi in 1938. Bengi was in the Irish Guards and later the Intelligence Corps and Natalie also served, as a German speaker at Kenilworth in radio propaganda during the war and later at Woburn Abbey in Naval Intelligence. They moved to Shropshire in 1947 and Natalie soon became involve in local affairs, becoming a District and County Councillor as well as working as a senior Librarian in Wolverhampton She started beekeeping shortly afterwards in order to claim the wartime sugar allocation to beekeepers and in 1953 bought a farm at Astley Abbotts, later establishing a Lavender Farm, which was open to the public during the summer months. She kept 30 hives in an out apiary but raised her nuclei at the lavender farm under a shelter. This was “Pollen Row” where each hive was covered in a large box of different shapes and styles to form the Bank, Pub, Garage, Church, School etc. with the doors and windows forming the entrance for the bees. She erected a viewing tunnel in front of the hives and the visitors to the lavender farm had a close up view of the bees in action and many of them became beekeepers. The Beekeepers Association held Apiary meetings there each year, enjoying Natalie’s wonderful hospitality and wit and the opportunity to learn from her wide travels and experience of beekeeping in other cultures. She always travelled with a purpose at a time of life when most people give it up, visiting Cambodia on a bee tour in 2007 where unfortunately she picked up a virus infection which laid her low for many months. Natalie was also an accomplished competitive glider pilot, learned to water ski in her nineties and became the oldest English author on record at the age of ninety three when she wrote “Fateful Beauty”, the true story of Francis Coke who lived during England’s Civil War. Natalie was a wonderful lady, an inspiration to all who met her. She will be sorely missed in Shropshire and the wider Beekeeping Community

5.      A Lesson in Beekeeping  

(This is a shortened version of a report by Susan Hayday that appeared in the Ludlow & District Beekeepers' Newsletter -July 2005)

On Saturday 18 the June, as guests of the Shropshire Beekeepers, we visited Mrs. Natalie Hodgson's lavender fields and her unique collection of beehives. Mrs Hodgson has been keeping bees for over fifty years, but as she remarked with glee, 'They've never kept me'. There is a bee viewing tunnel, covered in black netting, for visitors to walk through where they can have a close look at the hives working. Mrs Hodgson doesn't believe in disturbing her bees too much and certainly had fairly impressive weighty supers which we helped remove. She doesn't bother about clearing the bees down to the brood boxes; just carries the supers a small distance away and waits until the bees have all returned to their hive before attempting to take the supers further away.

As very new beekeepers it was interesting to actually see the varroa mite on drone larvae, which we'd removed with an uncapping fork. As it was pointed out - 'the eye is at the other end; this dark spot is the mite'. Emergency DIY repairs were made to the frames of some of the brood boxes, one even when the queen was present, which was pretty impressive. We were also able to see what happens when double the proper bee space is inadvertently used - huge amounts of brace comb. Also of interest were the quite different colours of the bees in some of the adjacent colonies; perhaps the distinctive brightly painted hives helped to prevent 'drifting' in spite of the close proximity.

The Shropshire lads entertained us all afternoon, working steadily through Natalie's hives and happy to give her a helping hand. It was absolutely delightful to see this 92-year-old lady standing her ground when helpful advice was being offered which she declined to take, as she'd been beekeeping a great deal longer than any of us present. The afternoon was finished off with a lovely tea provided by Mrs Hodgson, complete with Victoria sponge cakes. We were all invited to sit down and eat properly ('there's no future for an old sandwich, you know …')!

6.      This and That - Western Region Bee Inspector's Report for 2007 Part 1

Last year (2007) was one of the most difficult years for both bees and beekeepers in living memory - at least in the recollection of one local beekeeper who has been keeping bees for 53 years –– and I would imagine that few would disagree with him. There were rather more winter losses than usual. The percentage of colonies found dead on first inspection was 10.6%. This is about the same as last year (2006), but this figure has been rising steadily for several years now from around an average of 3.5% where it stood in the years 2000/2001. The winter loss nationally for 2007 stands at 11.1% and this figure has been rising inexorably as well. Locally, most of the losses were clearly identifiable as a result of badly timed or inappropriate varroa treatments although sadly, again this year, quite a number of cases of starvation were also seen.

Many beekeepers in Shropshire are still relying on the pyrethroid strips for their varroa control…but please bear in mind that you're in an area where mites are now heavily resistant to any of the pyrethroids, so much so, that I again repeat my suggestion to you that these strips are now redundant products! OK, a lot of you reported that you had a good drop of mites after using them - but these were only the susceptible mites! There were even greater numbers of resistant mites still left in those colonies after these treatments, reproducing happily, inflicting damage, and spreading viruses, which added to many colonies’ problems and eventually caused their demise.

For those stocks that came through winter in good heart, the spring started promisingly enough with many fields of oil-seed rape blooming in the sunshine. However, beekeepers were soon reporting a very poor nectar flow from this source, as conditions were far too dry and drying winds had left soil moisture levels inadequate. Those who then moved onto borage hoping to recover some of their lost honey crop soon became despondent once again as the weather then turned to the other extreme with the onset of cold, wet, and miserable conditions, with hardly a bee flying, though a sudden late period of ideal weather finally enabled the bees to fill many supers in a matter of days.

Then came the floods. Several beekeepers lost numbers of colonies that were drowned-out or swept away in vulnerable out-apiaries. Surprisingly some of these bees survived, having absconded from hives that had toppled over and burst open. The remainder of the season was desperately bad with bees being confined to their hives for very long periods by the stop-go weather, giving them very few opportunities for sustained foraging, or even cleansing flights. As expected, queen matings were reported as being exceptionally poor in these conditions. Some stocks had even to be fed during the ‘summer’ months. A welcome late flow from Himalayan Balsam and Heather yielded well for some beekeepers and helped to provide some honey at least. Beekeepers in the micro-climates of the larger towns and cities in this Western Region generally did better than most throughout the season, as usual.[to be continued]

7.      Notices

(i)Part-time Self-Employed Fundraiser wanted for small beekeeping charity. Work from home approx 1 day pw. Remuneration plus commission. For more details contact: Bees Abroad, PO Box 2058, Bristol BS35 9AF. Tel: 020 7193 7135      Email: info@beesabroad.org.uk     website: www.beesabroad.org.uk

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