THE GLOBAL BEEKEEPING MAGAZINE.
International English language beekeeping journal published 4 times a year, established in 1984, edited by Norman Carreck and Dr Andrea Quigley, published by Northern Bee Books.
The copy deadline has passed for September's The Beekeepers Quarterly, and already we can see the next edition is shaping up nicely, even though we won't be winning any medals... unlike the the teams from USA, China, Australia, France, or Team GB...
Sssh! Don't tell anyone but we have a mixture of new and regular writers in the next issue. And is that a sneaky reveal of part of the new cover? Can't wait...
In the June 2024 issue of The Beekeepers Quarterly, we reported on The B4 Project: A DECADE OF SUPPORTING THE BLACK BEE.
After 10 years of promoting the prosperity of the native dark European honey bee Apis mellifera mellifera (Carreck, 2024), the B4 Project has widened its scope by revisiting its Mission, Vision & Values. These can be seen on...
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Coming soon! The The National Honey Show
But meantime why not relax with a cuppa and watch Randy Oliver's talk from last year's show.
The video release for the first Friday in August, 5.15pm UK local time, is the last of the lectures from last year’s show: "How a colony survives cold winters" by Randy Oliver. https://www.youtube.com/
We have more to look forward to with another excellent series of lectures planned for this year’s show, details on our website: https://www.honeyshow.co.uk/lecture-convention.php Next show: 24-26 October 2024 at Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher, UK
Newly published!
From Northern Bee Books
New title - out now.
Honeybees - A Natural And A Less Natural History by
Jacques van Alphen
"The knowledge gained from bee research provides a good starting point for new practices that will give bees greater resistance to disease and parasites, enable them to behave more naturally and encourage beekeeping that is more respectful of biodiversity."
For more info and to buy - click here: https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/products/alphen-honeybees/
The Beekeepers Quarterly
What's on?
A talk on solitary bees in Monmouth with Bees for Development
🐝 SOLITARY BEES & HOW TO FIND THEM 🐝
Join Ciaran Clark of Bees for Development for an evening exploring the diversity of bees in Monmouthshire. Learn about the importance of recording and how you can get involved followed by a Q&A.
Thursday 15 August, 7pm
Shire Hall, Agincourt Square, Monmouth, NP25 3DY
Free entry, registration required. Donations welcome
🔗 Register here: https://solitarybees.eventbrite.co.uk
Bees Abroad (UK NGO/charity) are looking for new trustees...
Our exciting expansion plans mean it’s time to grow our board, increase its diversity and extend its reach.
We seek three new committed Trustees with bags of enthusiasm and specialist skills in one or more of Governance, Finance, International Development, Social Enterprise, or Strategic Fundraising. We also seek our next Chair of Trustees with exceptional leadership skills.
If you would like to find out more about these opportunities, please visit our microsite: https://www.beekeepersforlife.com/
What's on? While over in Ireland, there's a big show coming soon!
And then there are shield bugs... Maybe they don't all look the same after all?
From the excellent The Woodland Trust
Love bumblebees?
Here's a post on what to see in August from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust
August is the last month to see all of the Big Eight bumblebees 🎱
Of the UK’s 24 bumblebee species, these eight are the most common 🐝
👑 Bumblebee queens begin to emerge from hibernation in spring, when rising temperatures and longer days awaken them from their winter snooze in the soil.
💤 When a queen first emerges, she spends some time resting in order to wake up properly.
🌷 Once fully awake she feeds on flowers to gain energy.
🏠 Then begins the search for a suitable nest site: holes in the ground, long grass, bird boxes and beneath garden sheds.
🌼 Having chosen her nest site, the queen will feed on more flowers and lay her first batch of eggs.
🐛 Little white larvae hatch, feed on collected pollen, and then develop into adult workers.
💼 These smaller females carry out work inside and outside the nest.
👑 Queens remain inside the nest, laying more eggs for the next batch of workers.
🚹 Towards the end of a nest, males are produced and leave. They do not collect pollen. Instead, they spend their time feeding on nectar and trying to mate with queens from other nests.
What bumblebees have you spotted recently? 👀
Keep your children buzzy this summer with our NEW Bumbling Explorers activity pack 🧩🖍️
https://ow.ly/YHyL50SMhsg
What's on? Coming soon to Scotland...
Tickets are on sale now for our annual beekeeping convention on the 27th-28th Sept in Kinross!
The theme this year is ‘Bees and Honey for the Modern World’ and we’re delighted to welcome two international speakers, Dr Jeff Pettis and Dr Lynne Hepplestone who shall be discussing
🐝 Beekeeping in a changing world: Climate change & the new exotic pests
🐝 Queen quality & colony management
🐝 Honey in wound management
🐝 Retrospective case studies in veterinary medicine
On the Friday night Ruary Mackenzie Dodds will be entertaining us about ‘The Day a Dragonfly Landed on my Shirt’.
Ticket prices are frozen at £30 for adults and £15 for students/juniors.
To buy your tickets and to find out more visit
https://scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/event/sba-annual-beekeeping-convention/
Lynne Hepplestone
Apimondia Federation
Ruary Mackenzie Dodds
We are already working on the next edition of The Beekeepers Quarterly. Yet, the editors are working hard not to be distracted by a combination of the Olympics and the glorious sunshine.
Already, we've been through regular articles like Foraging Lines. A Closer Look and been in touch with our writers to thank them for their contributions. As the day came to a close last night, one editor (Andrea Quigley) finally made a start on "Perspectives". It's certainly far too hot to go beekeeping...
It's at this point your other editor (Norman Carreck) pointed out that our predecessor (John Phipps, who lives in Greece) was used to working in intense heat and is much closer to the birthplace of the Olympics...
Want to find out more about the Cell punch method?
Queen rearing made easy: the punched cell method
by Roger Patterson - a longstanding Sussex beekeeper and BIBBA president for education.
Queen Rearing Made Easy: - The Punched Cell Method
by Roger Patterson
Roger Patterson's book is the first significant text on the subject since Richard Smailes.
Raising queens using the Punched Cell method has been in use since the early 20th century. Until now, the booklet "Raise Your Own Queens by the Punched Cell Method" by Richard Smailes, that was first published in 1970, was the most comprehensive source of information. Possibly due to the irregular supply of punches, few have continued to practice the method and it has largely gone out of use, though the author, Roger Patterson, has used it successfully for over 50 years. In this book Roger describes the method he uses, as well as giving other useful information.
for more info and to buy, click here: https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/products/the-punched-cell-method-patterson/
Watch the video on Queen rearing made simple - part 2
The Beekeepers Quarterly
The Cell punch method - queen rearing made simple!
This is the second in a series of instructional videos in Queen rearing made simple series. Demonstrating how a Beekeeper is able to produce Queens on a smal...
Write for us or hope to write for us? Here are the new Author Guidelines for The Beekeepers Quarterly.
To give you a feel for the journal you can download a free issue of the journal here: https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/products/the-beekeepers-quarterly/
This issue predates our editorship and the journal is part way through a refresh, so the current layout will vary.
Our readership is mainly well-informed beekeepers, usually not beginners, bee scientists, and educators. Please write in a lively and informal style. If you are concerned about your written English, we can help you.
Please keep references / further reading to a minimum and refer only to books and articles that the reader can easily obtain (i.e. preferably Open Access and not those published in very obscure journals). Please use ISBN and .doi numbers where available and ensure that any website links actually work.
The length of articles varies. Feature articles should be around 1,000 to 2,000 words long, but news items can be much shorter.
Please send separate files for the text (preferably in MS Word, but we can use .pdf) and any images. Photos should be of good quality and high resolution at the original size of the image taken and not reduced in file size or cropped heavily. Please do not embed them in the text you send. Please tell us who to credit for copyright of the images, and do not use images taken from the internet or with unknown copyright.
Please DO NOT use electronic footnotes, automatic paragraph numbering etc., or reference management software, as these often get scrambled during editing and cause problems.
In the future, we plan to feature a mini highlight of key contributors which would include a small headshot, affiliation, and a couple of sentences to describe them or their interests or work e.g.
Headshot photo (portrait)
Jane Smith
Associate Professor in bee conservation at Random University, US.
Jane’s passion is getting the habitat “right for bees”. She has 15 years of conservation experience in the Mid-West prairies, home to many rare bee species.
Our publication dates are September, December, March, and June.
For 2024/2 are copy deadlines are
10 August (September)
1 November (December)
1 February (March)
10 May (June)
Andrea Quigley and Norman Carreck
Joint Editors
A longstanding event in the beekeeping calendar - with good learning. In Ireland
Looks like fun - in Scotland
Bookings are now open for our next hands-on Honey Workshop🍯🐝
It’s on Sat 31st Aug from 10-4pm at Spey Bay Community Hall, Moray.
Places are limited so to find out more about what the day involves and to book your spot please visit
https://scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/event/honey-workshop/
It's week!
Creating in which all our can thrive.
In the June 2024 issue of The Beekeepers Quarterly, we reported on how a consortia of organisations had contributed to creating a landscape where more rare bee species are found in addition to those surveyed in 2021.
"...Cemetery already provides an important grassland habitat typical of the Sussex chalk downland with a diverse range of plants and insects. Studies made during 2021 revealed that the cemetery contained 34 species of bees and wasps including four nationally scarce species. ..."
To read more, subscribe
https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/products/the-beekeepers-quarterly/
Last week - in case you missed it - was - creating awareness of solitary bees of which there are easily some 220 species in the UK. These often small bees are the unsung pollinators of many of our plants.
We are celebrating Solitary Bee Week (1-7 July)!
Looking at both the most recorded Solitary Bees on the NBN Atlas (the Hairy-footed Flower Bee) - and the least recorded - and so, the 'most solitary' of these Solitary Bees (the Black Mud Bee): https://bit.ly/NBNatlas-BlackMudBee
We have 767,679 records of Solitary Bees on the NBN Atlas, why not take a look? https://bit.ly/NBNatlas-SolitaryBees,
Photo credit: Malcolm Storey
Regular readers will have spotted a few new changes to the layout in the last issue. Working with our graphic designer, we are tweaking those initial changes to make The Beepeekers Quality look fresh, modern, and readable while keeping the content high quality.
Seeking ? That'll be the coffee and a walk in the morning sunshine! Maybe even asking or telling the bees?
Northern Bee Books
Installing a nuc in a hive from Northern Bee Books
Mike Joyce, former Bee farmer installs a Nuc in a Long Hive at Northern Bee Books HQ.In discussion with Jeremy about Nucs, locally reared queens, and other...
Beautiful insects for
Inspirational women in entomology? A talk that must be worth seeing.
There are plenty of women making their mark in the world of bees and beekeeping. Take Eva Crane for example, her books still enlighten people today and she founded International Bee Research Association - IBRA. Similarly, there is the founder of Bees for Development Nicola Bradbear who developed this work while she was at IBRA.
Join us for a panel discussion highlighting some of the inspirational women in entomology.
Congratulations to Maggie Couvillon on her promotion to Assistant Professor (Entomology) at Virginia Tech.
Maggie is a longstanding contributor to The Beekeepers Quarterly in her regular column Foraging Lines. Here is an extract from her most recent column
“There’s no doubt that modern day honey bees face numerous stressors. Those of us who work in this area frequently shorthand these challenges as the “Four Ps”, which stands for pesticides, pathogens, pests and poor nutrition, all of which play out in a landscape of a warming climate. Our hope is that as beekeepers, we might mitigate the impact of these stressors. Indeed, I hope…”
To read on please subscribe here
https://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/products/the-beekeepers-quarterly/
This week has been Pollinator week in the US which is organised by The Pollinator Partnership. Check them out for various blogs, reels, and other information.
In particular, we notice they feature in a podcast with our friends at Beekeeping Today Podcast who celebrate their seven years anniversary with the Pollinator Partnership.
Jointly, these communities and their followers have been working towards "Vision 2040: Thriving ecosystems, economies, and agriculture," this year's event urges us to envision a future where pollinators not only survive but thrive. These essential creatures, including bees, butterflies, moths, bats, beetles, and hummingbirds, are the unsung heroes behind the food we enjoy and the beauty that surrounds us. As we reflect on the interconnectedness of our world, let's unite in a collective effort to protect and preserve these crucial pollinators. By understanding the impact of our actions on their habitats and embracing sustainable practices, we can pave the way for a flourishing future." The Pollinator Partnership
This important survey for English beekeepers (they have their own surveys in Scotland, Wales and N Ireland) will feed into the international survey collated by COLOSS. The data will be published once all the results are in and assessed.
Please note the survey ends 28th June 2024.
Winter survival survey. Please participate.
One week remaining.
The BBKA is curious to know how the 2023/4 winter compared to previous years and need your help! This year, the BBKA have decided to work with COLOSS - an international organisation which is focussed on improving bee health.
The results will be published in BBKA News and provide data for the global study on threats to honey bee populations.
Please take a few minutes to complete this anonymous questionnaire.
Survey ends 28th June 2024.
https://www.bee-survey.com/index.php/743216?lang=en
What’s on this weekend?
The Scottish Honey Championships at the Royal Highland Show.
This year boasts a record number of honey show entrants according to The Scottish Beekeepers Association.
Congratulations and well done to all who took part!
Kim Flottum was for 33 years the editor of Bee Culture Magazine, long-time friend of Northern Bee Books and regular columnist of The Beekeepers Quarterly. He recognised early on the potential for a beekeeping podcast. His passion for bees and beekeeping was legendary. He kept bees in his backyard until his death in December 2023, and is sadly missed.
Kim’s life is remembered in the latest podcast from Beekeeping Today Podcast by fellow podcaster and new The Beekeepers Quarterly columnist Jeff Ott.
During this seventh year anniversary week of the podcast, we bring you this special memorial episode honoring our former co-host, colleague, and dear friend, Kim Flottum, who passed away in December 10, 2023. This episode is dedicated to celebrating Kim’s remarkable life and his immense contributions to the beekeeping community.
https://www.beekeepingtodaypodcast.com/podcast-memorial-to-kim-flottum-283/
Thank you to everyone who has praised or commented on the June 2024 issue of Beekeepers Quarterly - including our supporters at BJ Sherriff.
Our contributors and readers make the journal the success it is!
The Editors Andrea and Norman
What's on this weekend? The South of England Show!
Bees and Honey are in Queen Street.
The Beekeepers Quarterly editors are at the show on Friday - come and say Hi!
Make a bee-line for our Bees & Honey marquee at the 🐝
See live demonstrations and learn how honey bees are managed 🍯
View entries to this year's 'Children's School or Youth Group Poster Competition' 🌻
There will also be the opportunity to purchase a range of products of the hive 🐝
Find them in Queen's Street alongside the Competition Gardens 🌺
Kindly sponsored by Mrs V. Lewis-Jones
The latest finds of the yellow-legged Asian hornet via BBKA - The British Beekeepers Association.
Editor Norman Carreck also provides an update in each issue of the BKQ. From the June 2024 issue:
"This is the first time that it has been proven that queens from a nest have successfully overwintered in the UK, and strongly suggests that there may now be an established population in this part of south east England."
Meantime joint editor Andrea says they are getting too close to our bees for comfort (we're based in West Sussex).
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