Beekeeper

The Apis Blog Has Swarmed. Or rather it has moved home onto our brand new website : www.bermondseystreetbees.co.uk

                    Dear Apis Blog Subscriber, The Apis Blog has swarmed. Which is to say that it has moved home onto our brand new website : www.bermondseystreetbees.co.uk When you enter the website, look in the top right corner for “Apis Blog”. There you will find out up-to-date bee-blog posts and a”Subscribe” box on the right hand side of the page….and a whole lot more about the Bermondsey…

And we’re off to a flying start with our new www.bermondseystreetbees.co.uk website. The Apis bee-blog and much more can be accessed through the site. And we’ve also been busy in the Press: see this profile in ES Lifestyle : Made in London . The start of the Bee Year is September, once the honey harvest has been gathered in. So it’s time for our subscribers and local customers to be offered…

A Bee-ientôt. We've got the builders in. And we're very excited! Our fantastic new Bermondsey Street Bees website is under construction (in the capable hands of our co-ordinator Sarah, our designer, Lydia, and our ace web-smith, Edward!). To keep the build simple, I will not be publishing on the Apis blog until it has been integrated into the new website.

We’ve got the builders in. And we’re very excited! Our fantastic new Bermondsey Street Bees website is under construction (in the capable hands of our co-ordinator Sarah, our designer, Lydia, and our ace web-smith, Edward!) To keep the build simple, I will not be publishing on the Apis blog until it has been integrated into the new Bermondsey Street Bees website. You can still visit all our…

Barbados Honey Tasting At Sandy Lane. After meeting Sandy Lane's Executive Chef, Emmanuel Guémon, a plan took shape in my mind - I was determined to organise a first-ever Bajan honey tasting for Emmanuel and his brigade!

Bee On Magnolia At Sandy Lane It seems that every other turning off the A12 on the way to my apiary in coastal Suffolk is called Sandy Lane. But when you hear people in Barbados talking about Sandy Lane, you know that it only means one place: the immaculate Sandy Lane property in St James’s parish, Barbados. Visiting this iconic estate, I bumped into Sandy Lane’s Executive Chef, Emmanuel Guémon,…

Deadly Manchineel. The red rings around the trunk of the manchineel tree stand out against the white sand as it slopes down to the Caribbean sea. The faded rings are an alert to sun-saturated holidaymakers that its shade should be avoided. Not for bees, though.

Bee On Manchineel The red rings around the trunk of the manchineel tree stand out against the white sand as it slopes down to the Caribbean sea. These faded rings are a clear alert to sun-saturated holidaymakers that its shade should be avoided. Red Rings Around A Manchineel But for the role which it plays against beach erosion, the manchineel tree might be less well tolerated in our increasingly…

Bret's Bajan Bees. On a previous visit to Barbados, I had met Ben The Bajan Beekeeper. I subsequently received an invitation from one of Ben's fellow beekeepers, Bret Tujela, to visit his Bajan Bees when I was next on the island. Here's the story of Bret's Bajan Bees.

Bret Tujela On a previous visit to Barbados, I had met Ben The Bajan Beekeeper. Following my blog post, I received an invitation from one of Ben’s fellow beekeepers, Bret Tujela, to visit his Bajan Bees when I was next on the island. Bret responded enthusiastically when I let him know that the entire Apis beekeeping family would be holidaying in Barbados. He was keen for us to see his bees as…

The Sawh Dynasty. Maff spotted the sign, on the outskirts of Bridgetown, Barbados: "Sawh's Bee Hiving Enterprise - we specialize in bee hive removal. 100% pure Honey. 100% pure Bajan." It was to lead to quite an adventure.

The Sawh Sign Maff spotted the sign, on the outskirts of Bridgetown, Barbados: “Sawh’s Bee Hiving Enterprise – we specialize in bee hive removal. 100% pure Honey. 100% pure Bajan.” Irresistible.  I called the number. After a long, almost too long ring, the phone was answered by a woman’s voice. A kind, busy, slightly singing intonation. I explained that I was a beekeeper from London and that I’d…

Bee Garden Party. We're off to the Bee Garden Party at Marlborough House, London from 6pm on 1st July 2015. My Apis Bee Consultancy will be auctioning a full apiary site survey - a new and unique service, aimed at hotels and restaurants - in aid of Bees For Development.

Our New, Unique, One-Stop Apiary Service For Restaurants and Hotels We’re off to the Bee Garden Party at Marlborough House, London from 6pm on 1st July 2015. My Apis Bee Consultancy will be auctioning a full apiary site survey –  a new and unique service, aimed at hotels and restaurants – in aid of Bees For Development. Martha Kearney will host the event and Bill Turnbull will run the Auction.…

In life, as in beekeeping, when you collaborate with talented people, good things happen. When Hung (pronounced "Hoong") Quach approached me to propose an article about the Bermondsey Street Bees' rooftop apiary, in the "Locality" section of her Jet and Indigo blog, I was delighted to accept.

Debriefing – Photo by Hung Quach – Jet and Indigo In life, as in beekeeping, when you collaborate with talented people, good things happen. When Hung (pronounced “Hoong”) Quach approached me to propose an article about the Bermondsey Street Bees‘ rooftop apiary, in the “Locality” section of her Jet and Indigo blog, I was delighted to accept. I had been especially impressed with the crispness and…

James Simison, family friend and Risk Management Surveyor at Sunderland Marine, asked a very pertinent question about pesticides. A little later, Sheila, James's mother and an eminent solicitor, e-mailed me on the subject of pesticides and bees. No doubt that it was time for an Apis open letter on this very important subject!

James Asked About Safe Pesticides & Bees James Simison, family friend and Risk Management Surveyor at Sunderland Marine, sent me a very pertinent question about bees and pesticides on LinkedIn. A little later, James’ mother, Sheila, an eminent solicitor, e-mailed me on the subject of pesticides and bees. I took the hint: it was indisputably time for an Apis open letter on this very important…

An Inspector Calls...At 5.31pm precisely the doorbell rang. It was the Seasonal Bee Inspector for the South East of England, Brian McCallum, sent from the Animal and Plant Health Agency.

An Inspector Calls: Brian McCallum

At 5.31pm precisely the doorbell rang. It was the Seasonal Bee Inspector for the South East of England, Brian McCallum, sent from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on a routine visit to the Bermondsey Street Bees.

In the 8 years in which I have been keeping bees, this was my first visit from an inspector. Or, as I like to look at it, the first time I…

Leathermarket Gardens : One Year On. Last weekend, we witnessed a minor metrological miracle. For once, the rain held off when we went in to weed and tend our patch of fruiting trees and bushes, herbs and wildflowers in Leathermarket Gardens.

Bee On Borage In Leathermarket Gardens

Last weekend, we witnessed a minor metrological miracle. For once, the rain held off when we went in to weed and tend our patch of fruiting trees, bushes, herbs and wildflowers in Leathermarket Gardens. Even the bees showed up to help us out.

Apple Blossom

Maintenance is important when you’ve planted for forage. Here we were, tidying up after the Leathermark…

Risk Assessment. I have just finished writing a 15-page Risk Assessment for an Apiary. Yet I pay just under £10 a year to insure my own hives (the cover is £10 million Public Liability and £2 million Professional Indemnity). In the real world of Insurance, at least, beekeeping is a reassuringly low-risk activity.

I’ve just finished writing a 15-page Risk Assessment for an Apiary which I have set up. A tedious, but necessary, process. It was a small consolation to reflect that, in my experience, responsible beekeeping is not risky at all.

That’s not just my opinion – I can back up the claim with a simple fact: I pay just under £10 a year to insure my own hives (the cover is £10 million Public Liability and…

Greenwood Theatre Pocket Park. I often encounter pessimism about the future of bee-friendly forage in London. But small, determined projects can act to roll back the defeatism. Like the new Greenwood Theatre Pocket Park.

Joe Swift, Surrounded By The Pocket Park’s Team

I often encounter pessimism about the future of bee-friendly forage in London. You’ll be familiar with the argument: with property development squeezing the last drop of square footage out of any available space, homeowners decking or tarmacking over gardens and playgrounds and work-out areas nibbling away at park space, we come up against the same…

CSI Pollen. The Bermondsey Street Bees are participating in the COLOSS CSI Pollen study, which covers 18 European countries

The Bermondsey Street Bees have enrolled in the COLOSS CSI Pollen study, which covers 18 European countries, working with Norman Carreck of the University of Sussex. This is an important adjunct to our own work on forage (watch this space!).

The protocol involves taking a representative 20g sample of pollen from three Bermondsey Street hives, dividing the pollen loads into different colours and…