Category Archives: Ecology
Oh dear, a virus ‘jumps’ from plants to bees
The bane of the bee is varroa. We warn new beekeepers that varroa will kill their bees faster than they can say “varroosis“ five times. Varroa kills. Thirty years ago, the mites weren’t as bad as they are now. In … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests, Ecology, Science
Tagged bee viruses, tobacco, varroa mites
3 Comments
Wax Worms Biggly in the News
The folks who write my favourite business magazine, Economist, have a freebie on their website. They are giving away a 50-page book, Ten Things We Learned in 2017. You’ll like the second story in their feature: “How plastic-eating caterpillars could … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests, Ecology, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Economist, environment, wax worms
3 Comments
Busy as a Bee
I try to write at least one blog post every week. It’s not hard to find material. Honey production, honey chemistry, queen breeding, nectar sources, apitherapy, famous beekeepers, colony management, bee diseases, and on and on – it’s easy to … Continue reading
Unseen Pollinators
If you are interested in ecology (and especially pollination), there’s a great piece you’ll want to read on Jeff Ollerton’s website. Dr Ollerton (University of Northampton) has just released a comprehensive paper on pollinator diversity in Annual Review of Ecology, … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Pollination, Save the Bees
Tagged Jeff Ollerton, pollinators
22 Comments
Better Bees
Hungary, where I am today, has a long beekeeping history. Honey bees have been part of the ecology for thousands of years. Here, they are indigenous species whereas in the Americas (and Australia, New Zealand, and much of Asia), the … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Climate, Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Genetics, Science
Tagged bee races, black bees, Carniolan honey bees, Galtee Queen Breeding, Hungary, Ireland
2 Comments
The Serious Lawn
Do we take lawn care too seriously? Whether we are wasting water on Kentucky bluegrass in the great American southwest, or soaking tonnes of weedkiller and insecticide into pleasant little villages across the continent, much of our obsession is just … Continue reading
Mind the Gap!
If you travel metro in London (and many other cities) you might hear a polite admonition from the public address system, “Mind the gap!” It’s advising you not to get your footwear stuck between the train and platform while boarding. Beekeepers … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Ecology, Honey Plants
Tagged dandelions, feeding bees, June beekeeping
15 Comments
PolliNation Podcast
Here’s a great new podcast. I’ve just listened to the first episode (twice!). If all the future episodes will be as good as Episode 1, PolliNation will be a great resource and a fun listen for beekeepers. Since beekeepers spend … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Friends, Outreach, Pollination, Save the Bees
Tagged Andony Melathopoulos, Oregon State University, podcast, Pollination, Ratnieks, urban beekeeping
9 Comments
International Workers’ Day
My home city of Calgary celebrated May Day (International Workers’ Day) by welcoming 1,176,334 foreign workers into our community last night, doubling our population. 196 packages of worker bees had arrived. A swarm of Calgary beekeepers greeted the immigrants. (The … Continue reading
Supporting “Painting the Bees”
It’s pretty hard to pry money out of my pockets. Unless you’ve got something really great going on that can use a little support. The Good of the Hive is one of the worthy ones. It aims to bring awareness … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Outreach, Save the Bees
Tagged bee art, crowd-funding, Matthew Willey, The Good of the Hive
2 Comments
