This is an unpaid, voluntary position that supports the work of the Bee Health Advisory Forum and the delivery of the Healthy Bees Plan 2030 (HBP 2030) in England and Wales HBP2030_English_language_version.pdf Healthy honey bees are essential to agriculture, food production and wider ecosystem health. Managed honey bees support crop…
Keep calm and carry on
The vagaries of the weather, compounded by unexpected events, are what make beekeeping so endlessly fascinating … and challenging. Don’t get flustered. Just keep calm and carry on and things should be OK.
Support for Weekend Events
APHA’s National Bee Unit recognise the important role that weekend events play in supporting training, engagement, and education across our primarily hobbyist sector and we are committed to working constructively with partners and stakeholders to maximise the value and impact of these opportunities wherever possible. However, our organisation operates within…
Orientation flights and ‘non-flying bees’
Bees spend more of their short lives learning about the environment during orientation flights than they spend foraging. Why are these flights so important, when do they start, and are bees that have yet to take them really ‘non-flying bees’?
Yellow-Legged Hornet Analyses
In December 2025 Defra confirmed that the NBU will not be asked to carry out spring trapping for YLH in England in 2026. This decision was taken in response to the high number and geographic spread of later season nest finds during 2025. At the BHAF meeting held on 5th…
Hive Count 2025 – Results
Over 10,000 beekeepers updated their details on BeeBase during the 2025 hive count compared to over 9,500 in 2024. The 2025 hive count produced a figure of 257,976 colonies in the UK. This is higher than the 2024 figure of 252,647. Responses indicated there was a decrease of 0.2 hive…
Temperatures and Taranovs
Some observations on the impact of low overnight temperatures on colony development and spring swarming, and the use of Taranov swarm control to partition the flying and ‘non-flying’ bees to prevent swarming.
How to : Queenright queen rearing
Queenright queen rearing using the ‘Ben Harden system’ is an ideal way to produce queens without the need for huge cell raising colonies, or compromising honey production. A ‘little and often’ approach helps mitigate adverse conditions, and mistakes made when learning. Try it!
Good, better, best … swarm control
In Swarm-ready? last week, I made the comment that it was “baloney” when the naysayers claimed that swarm control was detrimental to the colony because it was ‘unnatural’. I knew when I made the comment that it wasn’t entirely true. Since this is beekeeping, every statement needs to be qualified.…
Here’s something I made earlier
I’m aware that beekeepers in the south of England are already wrangling swarms and starting their queen rearing. However, up here in the Scottish Borders, the season starts at a more sedate pace. As the spring warms up, there’s a period when it’s still too cold to open hives, but…