Shows

The Countess of Warwick Show - Little Easton

Steph Green and Simon Whittle on duty at the bee products stall.

The Countess of Warwick Show was certainly well attended this year, great news for the organisers! Well done to Steph Green, the committee and the volunteers for manning our stands throughout the weekend.
As always our stand was a “hive” of activity, so many people huddling around to see the bees. I’ve never answered so many questions about bees in a two hour shift on the observation hive!
A few examples...
Which is the queen? The one with the yellow spot.
How do you know it’s the queen? Yellow spot.
How many bees in that hive? Errrr 2000? Shall we count them?
I have bees in my chimney, can I get rid of them? Why would you want to?
Can I keep bees in my garden? Do you have a big garden and can you run fast?
Is the queen the boss? Not really, poor woman.
Can they get out of there? Maybe….
I have to state for the record, that they were not my actual spoken answers but what was in my head at the time!
Joking aside, it’s a great way to encourage people to learn about bees and to encourage them to plant with bees in mind. And an opportunity to encourage people to buy genuine honey from their local beekeeper rather than hunny (yes, hunny) from Aldi and other supermarkets. That is of course if they want to buy real honey that tastes delicious and is natural and full of goodness!
I had two "made me smile" moments whilst working at the observation hive. One was talking to a young lad who was a real fan of ant colonies and had studied them at length! We discussed the similarities between ant and honeybee colonies, he was extremely knowledgeable and taught me a lot. He was probably about 10 years old, the next Chris Packham I reckon.
The other was a boy who really didn’t like honey but he’d never tried it “ooh no, it’s weird” he said. ! I asked him to go to the honey stand and taste some honey and come back and tell me what he thought to it.
He came back a while later grinning from ear to ear, with a jar of honey. He now loves honey and honeybees! His parents thanked me for taking the time to encourage him to try different foods.
If we can bring humans of all ages closer to nature it's time well spent.
The Saffron Walden ice cream was pretty nice too!
Looking forward to COWS 2023 already.

Lizzie Beard 30/08/2022

Julia Proud and very interested observation hive visitors.

Apiary Meeting

Garden Party - 'Meet and Mingle' with afternoon tea.
Robert is going to give a talk about hive selection: Why do we choose what we do, and are there better alternatives?

Robert discussing the different frames and hives.

Robert gave a very interesting talk on the types of hive he has used over the many years he has kept bees. He also gave full explaniations as to why he changed from one type to another.
He is now reverting to use National hives, the same as he started with.
30 members from the division were entertained and treated to tea and a lovely selection of cakes and biscuits.