Jinney Ring apiary visit by the West Midlands branch of the Royal Society of Biology

We are pleased to be able to share with you some pictures kindly provided by Rob Greenaway the apiary manager of the Jinney Ring further to a recent visit by the West Midlands branch of the Royal Society of Biology.

The bees and new equipment are all looking very healthy...

The Annual General Meeting announces your new committee. Honey Tophies are awarded & we celebrate our home grown Master Beekeeper.

The Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday 21st November and the new committee has been agreed comprising:

Chairman      Alan Woollhead
Treasurer       Bob Powell
Secretary       Ed Payne
Education      Chris Tomlin

and with the following committee members:

Dave Lantsbery
Tim Vivian
Rob Greenaway

Martyn Cracknell, the President of the Worcestershire Beekeeping Association presented Honey Show trophies to Alan Woollhead and Bob Powell for their award winning honey entries consisting of liquid and soft set honey and blocks of wax and mead and Alan Woollhead was congratulated and awarded his Master Beekeeping Certificate.

We believe Alan Woollhead is the first home grown Master Beekeeper from the North East Worcestershire branch of the Worcestershire Association so this is particularly special.

Thanks were given to Kate Chase in her role as Chair over the previous twelve months and to Ann Winspear for her sterling work as Secretary over the last four years.

NEWBKA Annual General Meeting to be held at Hanbury Village Hall, on Wednesday 21st November, from 7.30pm

Please come along to the NEWBKA AGM to be held at

Hanbury Village Hall
Hanbury Road
Hanbury
Bromsgrove
B60 4BY

on Wednesday 21st November from 7.30pm

Link to the location:

https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=52.2884712219238%7e-2.09287810325623&name=Hanbury+Road%2c+Bromsgrove&where1=Hanbury+Road%2c+Bromsgrove&ppois=52.2884712219238_-2.09287810325623_Hanbury+Road%2c+Bromsgrove


The Association is calling for nominations for the Chair position and Association Secretary along with at least two new committee members.

Please send your nominations through to:

katechase@Hotmail.co.uk and annwinspear@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

Honey Show at Hagley Village Hall held on 8th September

The annual honey show was held at Hagley Village Hall on Saturday 8th September and many NEWBKA members took part. Well done to all who entered and won prizes. It is always a great round up of the year and a reminder at how amazing bees are with some incredible honey related products on display including dry and sweet mead, liquid and set honey, honey cake, beeswax candles and frames of honey and cakes of wax and cut comb. A particular well done to Bob Powell and Alan Woollhead for having overall highest number of points gained for a NEWBKA member and for winning the liquid honey section. Personally, I thought the 3rd placed set honey in our section was incredible! The second from bottom picture below was the overall winner of the show and consisted of a composite entry by Lyndon Corbett and was of a very impressive standard.

The difference between an Asian & European Hornet

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-app-to-report-asian-hornet-sightings

Our local bee inspector kindly provided us with this block containing an Asian Hornet and the more familiar European Hornet. Can you tell which is which?

Yes the more familiar European Hornet has the browner body, without the yellow socks of the Asian Hornet which I'm sure you recognised as the top specimen. These examples have now faded, but the single yellow stripe near the top of the abdomen on the Asian Hornet is usually a distinctive feature and if any of us were to spot one, we should take a picture or capture it if possible, and report the sighting through to the government link above...

Apiary meetings update at Avoncroft

Please note there will be no apiary meetings at Avoncroft during August but weekly meetings will resume at 11.00am on 4th September.

We have a Master Beekeeper in NEWBKA

We are all very pleased to discover that NEWBKA committee member, Doctor Alan Woollhead has just heard that he has passed the final, 'Advanced Husbandry' exam to become a 'Master Beekeeper'. This is a major achievement and makes him, as far as I know, our first 'home grown' Master Beekeeper (there is another Master Beekeeper in Worcestershire, who recently moved into the county after she qualified).

Doctor Alan Woollhead practicing for his General Husbandry exam

Hanbury Countryside Show

A big thank you to everyone who helped at the Hanbury Countryside Show on Saturday 8th July 2018.

Membership Survey

All NEWBKA members will shortly be receiving a short legitimate survey in your e-mail inboxes and we would welcome your input please by completing and submitting your responses. The survey will be received from your chairperson katechase@hotmail.co.uk
Please do check your junk and spam folders if the survey is not within your main inbox in the next few days. Many thanks.

NEWBKA skep making day held in February, 2018

On the 17th February twelve NEWBKA members enjoyed a day of building their own skep, organised as part of the NEWBKA social calendar. The day involved instruction from the well known straw skep maker Mike Townsend, who demonstrates all over the country at BBKA events. The day was full of skill building, chat, fun and great home made food (Sandwiches, cakes and biscuits and especially the soups on a cold February day). 



Asian Hornets

As you may have heard in the news, there has recently been an Asian hornet found in Lancashire. This is possibly the first Asian hornet that has overwintered in the UK.

The National Bee Unit news story is http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/News/news.cfm#198 This page also has useful links to identification documents and what to do if you think you have found an Asian hornet.

If you are not already registered on the FERA beekeeper's website 'Beebase' we would strongly recommend that you do so at https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/register.cfm?. Registering (for free!) allows the FERA bee inspectors to know where your bees are kept and you will then be emailed if there are any disease outbreaks or non-native pests found near you.

Ensure you feed your stocks or they have sufficient stores!

It was essential to look in my beehives last weekend 24th/25th March and it soon became apparent the hives are completely out of stores. Due to all of the cold weather, and despite trying to bring in pollen for the small amount of brood and nectar from the willow catkins nearby, candy immediately on top of the brood nest is required. I had an opportunity to take some close up pictures of the brood at all stages, from new matchstick eggs, to pearly white larvae to sealed brood cells. See if you can spot these elements in the picture above.

Committee Meeting on Monday 5th March

We held our quarterly committee meeting last night, and covered events for the remainder of this year. Please see the 'meetings' and 'where we meet' pages to stay up to date for further details. In the meantime, we are delighted to be working on your committee this year.

From left to right:    Chris Tomlin, Ann Winspear, Kate Chase, Tim Vivian, Alan Woolhead,
                               Bob Powell, Alex Bignall and Greg Hunt.

Novice course frame making progress on 23/01/2018 at Bromsgrove School

The 25 students on the beekeeping novice course being held on Monday nights at Bromsgrove School practised their skills putting together both Manley self-spacing and Hoffman style frames last night. Using all parts making up a frame, the pictures show their use of the wax sheets, top and bottom and side bars, gimp pins and hammer and pliers as required. We were impressed by the results and the Biology Lab tables are still in 1 piece after this practical session!