The Central Association of Bee-Keepers

Bee-Keepers' Question Time - Christmas Special
2022-12-07 19:30 - 20:30 (Europe/London) | Your house, via Zoom
Our Annual pre-Christmas event, modelled on Gardeners’ Question Time, but with an expert panel of beekeepers.
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom and is free to all, CABK Members and friends
Questions may be submitted by email to robert.smith@cabk.org.uk or shorter questions can be put during Registration.
Registration for this event is now open, please use the link below

The Panel

Lynfa Davies
Lynfa Davies lives in Aberystwyth and has kept bees with her husband, Rob, for 18 years. During this time, she has worked her way through the BBKA assessments to become a Master Beekeeper and in 2019 was awarded the National Diploma in Beekeeping. She is an active member of Aberystwyth and District BKA where she gets involved with training new beekeepers. Lynfa is also a member of the Welsh Beekeeper’s Association Learning and Development Committee. She regularly gives talks and leads training sessions on practical aspects of beekeeping. She is a regular speaker at events and association meetings and her articles appear in the beekeeping press.
Lynfa currently has approximately 30 colonies which she manages for honey production and for the joy of looking after bees! In addition, she raises her own queens and uses these to produce nucleus colonies and to replace her own stock. In Spring 2022, Lynfa’s first book, The Miller method of queen rearing, was published by Northern Bee Books.
Outside of beekeeping, Lynfa works for Menter a Busnes on the Farming Connect contract, a support and advisory programme for farmers in Wales. She manages to bring her expertise on insects to this work providing information and advice on the value of biodiverse ecosystems in a farmed landscape. In addition, Lynfa is currently working on a contract for the Animal and Plant Health Agency to deliver online training modules for intermediate beekeepers.

Roger Patterson
Roger Patterson started beekeeping in his native West Sussex in 1963. He is a practical beekeeper who has learnt by observing honey bees and interpreting what they have told him, rather than from standard material. He is the Apiary Manager and a demonstrator for his local BKA, where there are usually 30-40 colonies for teaching and queen rearing, in addition to his own 35-40. He speaks and demonstrates widely, where his practical approach is appreciated, giving him the privilege of seeing different beekeepers keeping different bees in different locations, where he has learnt that the “one size fits all” and “beekeeping by numbers” approach may not always be appropriate, as conditions can often be different only a short distance away.
Roger is the author of five books, has many online videos and is a contributor to the beekeeping press. He owns and manages the well-known Dave Cushman’s website. He uses colony management techniques that have stood the test of time and are based on what bees need, not what beekeepers think they need, though some may not be found in modern books. He encourages beekeepers to understand “the basics” and keep healthy productive bees that suit their environment.
Roger is the Programme Secretary for the Central Association, Lecture Secretary for the National Honey Show, President and Education & Events Secretary of BIBBA and Vice President of BDI. He is a past Trustee of BBKA.

Robert Pickard
Robert Pickard is Emeritus Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Cardiff and President of the Central Association of Beekeepers. He is an Independent Member of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, Chair of the International Bee Research Association and a former Editor of the Journal of Apicultural Research.
His research team developed new microelectronic technologies for the recording of biochemical activity in brains and tumours. In 1985, the first computerised atlas of the honey bee brain was illustrated at The Royal Society, in London, and Apimondia, in Nagoya.
Robert has studied bees since 1956 and his postgraduate students are spread through 50 different countries worldwide.

Stingless bees and tropical solitary bees - a talk by Breno M. Freitas
2022-11-10 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house, via Zoom
Prof. Breno Freitas will talk about the amazing bio-diversity amongst bees to be found in the South American Tropics.
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend. There is no fee for this event which also will be live-streamed to the CABK YouTube Channel – watch live or later, on demand.
Registration for this Zoom event is now open.

Prof. Breno Freitas will talk about the fascinating stingless bees and solitary bees that make an important contribution to Brazilian ecosystems
“In this presentation, I will show that among the 20,000 bee species in the world about 85% of them have a solitary life style.
Carpenter bee Xylocopa frontalis
Despite the better known and studied bee species that inhabit temperate climates of the world, the greater diversity of solitary bees are in the tropics, and they are amazing!!! There are species that use floral oils to build their nests and to replace nectar as the energy source to their offspring, and species where males have to collect floral essences in order to mate, while in other species the females excavate through hard wood to build their nests. I will also talk about a group of tropical social bees that give up their stings in exchange for a variety of defensive strategies, and have found different ways to organise their colonies, from the nest architecture to brood and queen production.
But the point I will address is that these tropical bee species are not just weird curiosities of the bee world. They are also essential pollinators and are involved in intricate food chains in the tropical forests, and can be sustainably used for the production of food (honey and pollen) and other hive products (geopropolis, resins) and to assist pollination of crops, provided we develop techniques to rear and manage them. I will show what we have achieved so far.

Prof. Breno Freitas – Zootecnia – UFC
Breno M. Freitas has worked with bees since 1984 when he became a beekeeper working with Africanized honey bees. Later, he achieved his first degree in Agronomy (1988), M.Sc. in Animal Science (1991) and PhD working with bees and crop pollination (1995) taken at the University of Wales College of Cardiff, UK. Presently, he is a Full Professor in the Department of Animal Science at the Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil, teaching and supervising undergraduate and graduate students of the Agronomy, Animal Science and Biology courses.
Nest of Orchid Bee Euglossa cordata
He researches ways in which bees can contribute to human food production and natural ecosystem sustainability, having pollination in the Neotropics as the central point. To this end, he and his interdisciplinary team of researchers, students, and industry collaborators investigate pollination requirements of agricultural crops, agricultural pollination in Brazil, pollinator efficiency and breeding and management of Africanized bees and species of stingless bees and solitary bees in agriculture. Threats to bee health and their pollination services due to climate change, deforestation and pesticide misuse are studied through precision beekeeping, gene expression, data mining, Artificial Intelligence, remote sensing, Internet of Things and monitoring and tracking of bees and colonies. His national and international partnerships on these topics have given rise to several projects and publications.
Nest of stingless bee Melipona subnitida
He has also worked as a researcher for the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (1996 – present), member of the Brazilian Pollinators Initiative (1998 – present), member of the Scientific Council of the International Commission for Plant-Pollinator Relationship (2010 – present), he has acted as a consultant and contributor to FAO in several projects and co-author of its publications, and he served as member of the Scientific Council of the Brazilian Federation of Beekeepers (2000-2022) and Coordinating Leader Author of the IPBES – Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of the United Nations to the theme of pollinators, pollination and food production (2014-2016).

Social Evening 2022 - an Evening with Grace McCormack
2022-10-27 18:30 - 20:30 | Sandown Park Race Course
The CABK 2022 Social Evening will take place on Thursday 27th October in the Solario Suite, Sandown Park, during the National Honey Show. There will be food and drinks and an opportunity to enjoy a more relaxed evening in the company of one of the keynote speakers at the NHS, Prof. Grace McCormack from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI).
Tickets for this event are £20 from this website, until Wednesday 26th October; on-the-day tickets will be available from the CABK Stand at the NHS, priced £25

Grace McCormack
Grace will be in conversation with the CABK President, Prof. Robert Pickard and there will certainly be opportunities to put your questions to her as well.
Grace McCormack is a Professor in Zoology at NUI Galway. Her interests lie in evolutionary biology and particularly in using molecular data to understand how organisms are related to each other and the impacts this may have on conservation and on the evolution of organismal traits. The interaction between animals and their parasites/pathogens over evolutionary time is also of interest as is the use of this information in applied science such as biodiscovery (marine sponges) and apiculture (bees). Grace started beekeeping to better understand the species she is now studying, and the University apiary managed by her has 12-15 colonies.
During the National Honey Show she will be presenting two talks which have arisen from the interests mentioned above.

“Insights on beekeeping from wild honey bees”
“Protecting honey bees on the island of Ireland: our journey from discovery to legislation”

There will be much to enjoy and to learn and perhaps have our assumptions challenged?

The Irish Apicultural Programme: investigating the impact of multiple stressors on honey bees - a talk by Darren O'Connell
2022-09-15 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house, via Zoom
How will our bees cope with a warming world, on top of existing disease and environmental challenges?
This talk will explore some work on these aspects for the Irish Apicultural Programme.
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend. There is no fee for this event which also will be live-streamed to the CABK YouTube Channel – watch live or later, on demand.
Registration for this Zoom event is now open.

Dr Darren O’Connell, a post-doctoral researcher in the School of Biology and Environmental Science at University College, Dublin.
Out sampling!
Summary: “The Irish Apicultural Programme, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine seeks to understand the impacts of multiple stressors on honey bees. As part of this we are investigating the influence of thermal stress in a warming environment, and the potentially multiplicative impacts of co-infection with multiple pathogens and multiple pesticide exposure.”

Dr. Darren O’Connell
Dr. Darren O’Connell
“I am a molecular ecologist working on the impact of multiple stressors on honey bees. In my research career I mostly use genetic tools to understand the environment around us. I have used this approach to provide insight into a variety of different environmental challenges, such as pollination services, successfully restoring forests and quantifying and protecting bird diversity in the tropics.”

Spring Meeting 2022, Nottingham
2022-03-26 | Holme Pierrepont Hall, Nottingham, NG12 2LD, United Kingdom
CABK are delighted to be bringing one of our main meetings of the year to beekeepers in the East Midlands. Our Spring meeting will be held on 26th March at Holme Pierrepont Hall, near Nottingham. We are aiming to make this a hybrid event, with virtual attendance via Zoom – all of the content but you have to prepare your own lunch!
Arrive from 10:00 for a 10:30 start. Plenty of car parking.
Tickets are £25 pp for in-person attendance, including a delicious hot buffet lunch, and £10 for virtual attendance, and may be purchased through the links below:
Just one day to go…!! There are still just a few tickets available for this unique event – please book now via this link
Buy in-person tickets
Those wishing to participate virtually, via Zoom, may book by clicking the link below.
Buy virtual tickets
There is a full programme for the day. In the morning we will have guided tours of the magnificent house and gardens and, in conjunction with the bee research team at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), led by Dr. Martin Bencsik, we will have an opportunity to see the NTU Apiary with its continuously monitored hives. The morning sessions will conclude with a talk about some of the exciting research that is going on and there will be a workshop on the B-GOOD projects being advanced by NTU. Lunch will be a hot buffet with 3 options – see below – and then the afternoon will feature two talks separated by a tea break.
Come along and bring your beekeeping friends, non CABK members are very welcome.
The Parterre
Our two afternoon speakers will be…
Vince Gallo

Vince Gallo
Vince tends his 15-20 hives in Surrey within his garden and two out-apiaries; one of which is at a local school. The bees are kept both as a hobby, but also for research; the latter being a result of this retired software engineer deciding to avoid boredom by undertaking a PhD at Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL). The research topic concerns the use and construction of honeycomb and now, in the third year, the bees and comb are beginning to surrender some answers.
Vince is an active member of Reigate Beekeepers which provides ample opportunity to help other beekeepers, to assist the public as a swarm collector and to promote the interests of bees by supporting the association at summer shows and by giving talks at local groups and schools.

“My path to understanding the mechanisms of honeycomb construction”
Experimental comb
Honeycomb is always beautiful, often regular, and commonplace, and the method by which bees achieve its construction has fascinated and eluded scientists and beekeepers for centuries, and for my PhD research I have been continuing this attempt – with some success. I will explain my experiments, exploiting my domestic apiary, which have included video recording of observation hives, and placement of assorted stimuli onto which the bees built honeycomb. I will also present a number of custom physical and software tools which I designed and built that allowed me to take measurements and make comparisons of the resulting wax constructions. In this talk, while discussing these methods and equipment, I will disclose both successes and the more numerous failures that illustrate quite how challenging and entertaining was this process.
Harriet Hall
Harriet Hall
Harriet Hall is a PhD student in her fourth and final year at Nottingham Trent University, studying the Varroa mite and its host species, Apis mellifera.
“My research focuses primarily on substrate-borne vibrations produced by both mite and bee: their capture using vibration sensing technology, the identification and characterisation of the features of those vibrations, and the attribution of those specific vibrational traces to their corresponding bee or mite behaviour.
I have previously researched the foraging behaviour of the hairy footed flower bee, Anthophora plumipes, at a site in Portugal, as well as the mating behaviour of two-spotted crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus, during my undergraduate degree, where I studied zoology.”

“Capturing vibrations originating from Varroa destructor individuals”
Current methods of Varroa detection within honeybee colonies necessitate the physical opening of hives and removal of bees/brood, or regular, in-person inspection of the base board. Precision beekeeping is a recent apiary management strategy that aims to reduce colony stress through the remote collection of various hive data (such as temperature, weight and the number of incoming/outgoing bees), which can then be passed on to beekeepers to inform them of colony events (such as swarming) or changes in status (such as colony death, queen-less-ness).
Varroa on accelerometer
The work that I have carried out as part of my PhD programme investigates the opportunity to detect the presence of Varroa mites in honeybee hives remotely, using vibration as the monitored parameter. Accelerometer sensors, used in my study, have previously been highly successful in the detection and characterisation of both individual honeybee vibrational signals and overall changes in the colony state.
I will discuss the successful use of these sensors in the detection of individual Varroa mite vibrations, an organism of minute size in comparison to a honeybee. Through this investigation, a never-before described Varroa behaviour has been discovered, which has a corresponding vibrational trace. I have carefully studied and characterised the vibration produced by this behaviour, which I have termed ‘jolting’, due to the abrupt movement of the mite.
The results of this study have now laid a foundation for further work into the remote detection of Varroa mites in the capped brood cells of the comb, using accelerometers as a sensing tool. I will discuss this new endeavour and its implications in terms of remote mite monitoring, as well as speculating on the potential function of this new behaviour, based on the results so far.

NTU Apiary

Hot Buffet Options
Salmon en Croute with a Tarragon Buerre Blanc, Buttered New Potatoes, Panache of Seasonal Vegetables
Cajun Chicken Pasta with Rustic Breads and a Mixed Leaf Salad
Wild Mushroom and Pepper Fricasse, Long Grain Rice, Garlic Bread and Mixed Leaf Salad

Cancellation Policy – recognising the continuing uncertainties, we will be as flexible as possible regarding cancellation and refunds.
In-person bookings will close at midnight on Sunday 20th March to allow final numbers to be provided for catering purposes. Up until that time we will offer a full refund for cancellation.
If we cancel the event, for example because numbers are too low, we will of course make a full refund of any monies paid.

CABK Annual General Meeting 2022
2022-03-21 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house, via Zoom
Details of how to attend this online event will be circulated to members during February.

Notice of 77th Annual General Meeting
The 77th AGM of the Central Association of Bee-Keepers will be held, on-line, on Monday 21st March 2022, starting at 7.30pm.

Further details to follow …

Officers 2021
President: Prof Robert Pickard
Treasurer: Harold Cloutt
Secretary: Sue Carter
Committee 2021
Committee Chairman – Robert Smith
Deputy Chairman – Andy Pedley
Programme Secretary – Roger Patterson
Membership Secretary – Fiona Matheson
Distribution & Sales Secretary – Bill Fisher
Webmaster – Simon Wilks
Other Committee Members:
Andrew Gibb, Pat Allen

Tracking Honey Bees with Machine Vision and Artificial Intelligence - a talk by Malika Ratnayake and Alan Dorin
2022-02-14 20:30 - 21:30 | Your house, via Zoom
Please note later start time than usual for this Zoom event – to recognise UK and Australian time zones!
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend. There is no fee for this event which also will be live-streamed to the CABK YouTube Channel – watch live or later, on demand.
Registration for the Zoom event is now open

Prof. Alan Dorin and his PhD student Malika Ratnayake will talk about their multi-disciplinary approach to understanding how bees behave in complex environments.

Alan Dorin
Alan Dorin is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He researches the ways in which technology assists discovery in the ecological sciences and in human creativity. Through his work in Artificial Life, Alan explores the key attributes of organisms that enable them to live in complex environments.
In particular, Alan’s research addresses one of the most important current global problems – how insects, especially bees, contribute to human food production and natural ecosystem sustainability.

The simulations that he and his interdisciplinary team of researchers, students, and industry collaborators create, are used to improve agriculture and horticulture, and to assist us in maintaining natural ecosystems as our climate changes. The technologies that this same team develops help us to monitor the natural world, so that we can better understand how ecosystems are changing now, and predict how they will change in the future.

Alan promotes an understanding of the relationships between technology and human endeavour by nurturing curiosity and encouraging students to form their own bridges between disciplines.

Malika Ratnayake
Malika Ratnayake is a PhD student in Computational and Collective Intelligence in the Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering and a Masters in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. His research develops cutting edge computer-vision and deep-learning facilitated technologies for pollination monitoring. Through his research, Malika explores the behaviour of pollinators in complex environments using these novel technologies. This knowledge is used to improve the sustainability of pollinator resources and natural and agricultural ecosystems.

“Is technology a bee’s friend?”
In this presentation, Alan and Malika will describe computer simulations, hardware and software built in collaboration with ecologists, evolutionary biologists, botanists, entomologists, fruit/vegetable growers and seed producers, to help us better understand bee behaviour and pollination. These tools help us understand how to preserve the bees and flowering plants of our native ecosystems, and to secure our human food supply under a changing climate. Our tools account for what bees perceive and how they learn. They allow us to explore the implications of foraging and decision-making strategies of bees.

The big questions we address with this understanding relate to how bees interact with flowering plants in complex environments. Armed with this knowledge we can build environments that are friendly for bees and produce valuable human food. And, we can sustain our native ecosystems within which native bees play a key role.
Is technology an ally in this research? What might be the drawbacks of using technology in this context? What are some guiding principles when considering applications of technology to better understand bees?

The Role of Gardens in Supporting Insect Pollinators - a talk by Nicholas Tew
2022-01-13 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house, via Zoom
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend. There is no fee for this event.
Registration for this event is now open

Nicholas Tew
Nicholas Tew will talk about the Role of Gardens in Supporting Insect Pollinators
Nicholas Tew is a PhD student at the University of Bristol working in Professor Jane Memmott’s community ecology group. His research focuses on the supply of floral resources for insect pollinators in urban areas. Previously, he worked on the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bumblebee foraging behaviour as part of his master’s at Imperial College and web building in orb spiders at the University of Oxford during his undergraduate degree. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening on his allotment and hiking in the countryside.
An ashy mining bee feeding from a window-box
Important pollinator habitats like hay meadows have declined widely in the UK countryside, while at the same time urban areas have been expanding. Residential gardens are the primary greenspace in our towns and cities, covering 30% of all urban land and, at a national scale, more than half a million hectares (an area the size of Norfolk). Gardens are fascinating habitats to study as they contain unnatural assemblages of plant species thrown together haphazardly by gardeners, dominated by non-natives and highly-modified horticultural cultivars. Research from my PhD shows how important gardens are in providing food for foraging pollinators and how they could be a lifeline for species that are struggling to cope in intensively-managed agricultural landscapes.

Bee-Keepers' Question Time
2021-12-08 19:30 | Your place!
Bee-Keepers’ Question Time

Your chance to quiz the experts;
addressing all areas of practical beekeeping

Margaret Thomas, Marin Anastassov and John Hendrie

This event was recorded and is now available on our YouTube channel

The Panel

Margaret Thomas
Margaret has been beekeeping for 48 years, first with a few hives then up to 80 and being involved in the newly set up Farmer’s Markets locally. She has been a long standing member of the BFA.
She was tutored initially by Ted Hooper and then Clive de Bruyn in Essex; she retired to Scotland in 2008.
She is the current President of the NDB having gained her Diploma in 1982. She has been involved in training and assessing in the BBKA and the SBA since gaining her BBKA qualifications.

Marin Anastassov
Marin holds a BSc in Animal Science and an MSc in Organic Farming. He is passionate about sustainable food production and his entire working career has been in organic food and farming.
Marin is a Master Beekeeper and gained his NDB in 2017.
He currently manages 30 colonies in Gloucestershire. Marin is a Trustee of Gloucestershire Beekeepers Association and is the Chairman on the BBKA Examinations Board.’

John Hendrie
John has kept and managed honey bees for more than 50 years and achieved his BBKA Master Beekeeper certificate in 1986. He has been heavily involved in beekeeping education ever since, running courses and lecturing widely in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
John is the Moderator for the BBKA Examinations Board and has been a member of the Examinations Board for many years, including 15 years as Board secretary.
He has been on the committee of the National Honey Show for more than 35 years . He also judges at small honey shows.

Our truly expert Panel will provide their advice on questions submitted by you…!!
Please send your questions at any time to robert.smith@cabk.org.uk

The Benefits of Propolis to Honey Bees; Newest Data - a talk by Marla Spivak
2021-11-17 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house, via Zoom
This event will be a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend. There is no charge for this event.
Registration for this past event is now closed

For a limited time, a recording of the talk is available on our YouTube channel at: https://youtu.be/dbck4MQL7ss

Professor Marla Spivak

Marla Spivak is a MacArthur Fellow and McKnight Distinguished Professor in Entomology at the University of Minnesota. Her research efforts focus on protecting and enhancing the health of honey bees, and on propagating floral rich landscapes to support all pollinators.

“Benefits of Propolis to Honey Bees: Newest Data”
Apis mellifera collects resins from plants and deposits the resins in the nest cavity where they are called propolis. Resins are antimicrobial, secondary plant compounds composed of volatile and non-volatile terpenoids and/or phenolics that protect plants against infection. When colonies of A. mellifera nest in tree cavities, they line the nest interior with a propolis envelope, which serves many purposes, including waterproofing and preventing fungal decay of the hive walls. Colonies in standard beekeeping equipment made of smooth wood do not construct a propolis envelope. Our research shows that honey bees exploit the antimicrobial properties of resins to supplement individual immune function and fight off microorganisms and pathogens. Our studies on the microbiome communities revealed that a propolis envelope promoted the proliferation of beneficial microbes that support immune function.
Trials in a commercial beekeeping operation using specially constructed rough-interior boxes that stimulated the bees to make a propolis envelope resulted in large colony populations, and did not affect honey production. In general, encouraging honey bees to construct a propolis envelope has many benefits to colony health.

Marla is providing this talk free of charge but invites donations to the work of her laboratory at the University of Minnesota. More details of the support your donation could provide, and a link to a donations page, may be found by following this link. Please give generously!

Solitary Bees including the Ivy Bee, Colletes hederae - a talk by Mike Edwards
2021-09-16 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house, via Zoom
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend. There is no fee for this event.
Registration for this event is now open, please Register below

The Ivy Bee

Mike Edwards will talk about the Solitary Bees including the Ivy Bee, Colletes hederae
Mike Edwards
Mike has been studying British wild bees for over 40 years, often with George Else, co-author of the recent Ray Society publication Handbook of The Bees of the British Isles – which provides keys and species accounts for all the bees known to be resident in Britain at the time of publication – over 260 species in all. He is also co-author, with Martin Jenner, of the widely acclaimed Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland.
It was as a teacher that his interest in bees was aroused when pupils asked about pinned specimens, leading to field expeditions and introductions to George Else and Orthopterist (grasshoppers, crickets & locusts) Chris Haes. This all developed into a strong association with BWARS, the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society.
Currently Mike, and one of his sons, continues to support insect conservation through his company which, among other things, includes the ecological management of golf course roughs.
The talk will introduce the main groupings within the bees-
Melitta tricincta
solitary, social and cuckoos – their life history, some help with recognising these and discuss modern ideas about their evolutionary history – very different to that when he first started, thanks largely to the development of genetic investigations.
In the first paragraph the number of British species was mentioned as more than 260. Although much has been made of insect declines, often referring to bees in particular, there have actually been many more species becoming established in Britain over the past 30 years than have been lost over the past 150.
Nomada flavopicta
Two of the best known of these recent introductions are the bumble bee Bombus hypnorum and the mining bee Colletes hederae. Using these two species (in the main) he will discuss possible reasons for these significant range expansions – and where losses may occur.

Sweet Treats : Emerging Parasites of Honey Bees
2021-05-19 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house, via Zoom
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend.
Registration for this event is now open, please follow the link below

Courtney MacInnis

Courtney MacInnis is a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. She completed a MSc in Ecology at the University of Alberta in 2017 under the supervision of Drs. Steve Pernal and Andrew Keddie, where she evaluated the viability and infectivity of Nosema ceranae spores in substrates commonly associated with honey bee colonies. As a PhD student co-supervised by Drs. Steve Pernal and Lien Luong, she is investigating the effects of two emerging parasites, N. ceranae and Lotmaria passim, on honey bee physiology and behaviour. Courtney is excited about all honey bee parasites and pathogens … except for those with eight legs!

Sweet treats: Emerging parasites of honey bees
Ready for PER tests

Honey bee health decline is often linked to a number of factors, including the presence of a variety of parasites and pathogens. In this presentation, I will provide recently updated information on the basic biology of two digestive tract parasites of adult honey bees: the microsporidian parasite Nosema ceranae, and the recently characterized trypanosomatid Lotmaria passim. The presentation will also include findings from my ongoing research project regarding the effects of these two parasites on honey bee behaviour and physiology!

Genetic Testing of Honey Bees for U.K. Beekeepers
2021-04-19 19:30 - 20:30 | Your place!
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom with a live stream to YouTube.
CABK members and Non-members are welcome to attend.
Registration for this event is open, please follow the link below or, on the night, view from the CABK YouTube Channel (Arrow icon, top right of this page)

The Three Presenters

Dr Mark Barnett
Matthew Richardson
Dr David Wragg
Mark Barnett, Matthew Richardson & David Wragg, the co-founders of the Community Interest Company (CIC) named Beebytes Analytics, will talk about the research that led to this opportunity at the Roslin Institute (University of Edinburgh), the way the CIC was established and the R&D that should lead to a honey bee genotyping service for UK beekeepers.
Based at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Innovation Centre, the CIC will initially be providing genetic services testing for introgression of C-lineage in M-lineage honey bees (analysis of the amount of DNA from Carniolan and Italian honey bees present in dark honey bees).
Dr Mark Barnett is a Scottish Expert Beemaster and honey bee research scientist. In 2019, he was awarded the “Inspiring Public Engagement Activity Award” by the Roslin Institute. He manages the apiary at the Easter Bush Campus of the University of Edinburgh and is the President of Edinburgh and Midlothian Beekeepers Association. He is responsible for the Scottish Beekeepers Association Microscopy Certificate, Intermediate and Advanced Practical exams.
Matthew Richardson is the manager of the University of Edinburgh Apiary Project at the Science and Engineering campus, which supports research and teaching work related to bees and beekeeping. He is the Science and Health Officer on the board of the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association, and has a strong theoretical and practical background in beekeeping, having qualified as a Scottish Expert Beemaster. His background is in software engineering, with particular focus on ‘big data’ management and analysis, as well as application and website design.
Dr David Wragg is a research scientist at the Roslin Institute with expertise in statistical genetics and bioinformatics. Prior to joining the Roslin Institute he was based at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, leading the analyses on a project to characterise honeybee population genetics throughout France. He has authored a number of scientific articles on various livestock species including honeybees. The breadth of this research includes characterising population genetic structure and admixture, identifying genetic associations for traits under selection, environmental adaptation, modeling gene-gene interactions and differences in gene expression in response to genotype and stimuli.

CABK Annual General Meeting 2021
2021-03-22 19:30 - 20:30
Details of how to attend this online event will be circulated to members during February.

Notice of 76th Annual General Meeting
The 76th AGM of the Central Association of Bee-Keepers will be held, on-line, on Monday 22nd March 2021, starting at 7.30pm.

Further details to follow …

Officers 2020
President: Prof Robert Pickard
Treasurer: Harold Cloutt
Secretary: Sue Carter
Committee 2020
Committee Chairman – Robert Smith
Programme Secretary – Roger Patterson
Distribution & Sales Secretary – Bill Fisher
Webmaster – Simon Wilks
Other Committee Members:
Fiona Matheson, Andrew Gibb, Pat Allen,
Andy Pedley, Sheila Fellows-Turnbull

The gut microbiome is key to nestmate recognition in the honey bee - a talk by Cassondra Vernier
2021-03-18 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house
This event has concluded.
An edited video recording of the talk can be found at the link below.
“The gut microbiome is key to nestmate recognition in the honey bee” Dr Cassondra Vernier

Dr Cassondra Vernier

Cassondra is a biologist interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms that underly animal social behaviours. She earned her PhD in Evolutionary Biology from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2019, where she worked in the lab of Dr. Yehuda Ben-Shahar. As a graduate student she studied how honey bee nestmate recognition cues develop as bees transition from nursing to foraging behaviours, and discovered that the bee microbiome plays an important role in defining differences in nestmate recognition cues between colonies. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Dr. Gene Robinson’s lab at the University of Illinois, where she continues to study the role of the microbiome in honey bee behaviour.

The gut microbiome is key to nestmate recognition in the honey bee
Guard bees at work! © Nathan Beach
Honey bees rely on nestmate recognition to recognize and reject intruders such as parasites, predators and robbers from entering their hive. This behaviour is performed at the entrance to the hive by guard bees, who inspect incoming bees to determine if they have a pheromonal signature that matches their colony. Despite the importance of these pheromonal cues in maintaining the integrity and fitness of the honey bee colony, how bees develop a cue that matches their own colony and differs from other colonies was not fully understood. Previous research suggested that bees develop these cues based on their colony environment, yet these environmental factor(s) remained unknown. In this presentation, I will present evidence that indicates that the gut microbiome plays an important role in defining nestmate recognition cues in honey bees

Recent developments on the use of accelerometers to monitor honey bee colonies - a talk by Martin Bencsik
2021-02-17 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house
This event has concluded.
A brief report of the talk can be read at https://www.cabk.org.uk/2021/03/10/the-relevance-of-virgin-queen-tooting-and-quacking/
Dr Martin Bencsik

Martin and ‘cello-hive!
Martin Bencsik is a University academic teaching physics. He gradually displaced his research focus from the vibrations in Magnetic Resonance Imaging to those taking place in the honeycomb of honeybee colonies. He is presently exploring the information one can draw about the honeybee colony status, from logging the always expanding collection of pulsed vibrations originating from individuals passing the vicinity of accelerometer sensors. Martin’s group is presently a partner of the large EU ‘B-GOOD’ research consortium aiming at providing guidance to beekeepers to help making beekeeping a sustainable practice, in spite of the difficult times we are going through.

Recent developments on the use of accelerometers to monitor honey bee colonies

Vibrational signature of a prime swarm
We have pioneered, eleven years ago, the use of ultra-sensitive vibration sensors to monitor the honeybee colony activity. We will show the tiny vibrations that we can measure, how we measure them, and the relevance of some of these signals to the honeybee individuals.

We monitor the signal continuously, over time durations longer than a year. We will show some conclusions we were able to draw about the meaning of some signals, often without any disruption to the colony. In particular we will show our preferred interpretation for the function of the toots and quacks that take place in the colony after the primary swarm.

The Bee Craft Research Lectures, in collaboration with the CABK
2021-02-15 19:00 - 21:00 | Your place!
This event is now concluded.
A brief report of these Bee Craft Research Lectures originally planned for the 2020 NHS, and hosted jointly by Bee Craft and the CABK, can be found at: https://www.cabk.org.uk/2021/03/11/the-bee-craft-lectures-2021/

Ayla Paul
Ayla Paul, University of Reading
Geographic Origin and Authenticity of UK Honey Samples

Ayla is now completing her PhD thesis and will speak about her research on the origin and authenticity of UK honey samples. She will give insights of the various methods – mass spectrometry, trace element (geology) analysis and pollen analysis – that she uses to develop an “Isoscape” for the UK. Is it possible to determine the geographic origins?

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Hamish Symington, University of Cambridge
Hamish Symington
Flower Power – The Science of Pollination
Hamish is a final-year PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge. In this talk he will explore how pollination works, how much of our food relies on insects, and how his and others’ research aims to make flowers more efficient at being pollinated, thus helping to feed the projected 2050 global population of 10 billion people.

Citizen Science and Public Participation in Bee Research - a talk by Robert Brodschneider
2021-01-20 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
Current CABK members will receive details of how to attend by email in advance.
Non-members are welcome to attend, for a small fee of £3.
Registration for this event is now open – please use the ink below
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5316081605806/WN_rM3WJHHETAupd8F1MWXHsA

Dr Robert Brodschneider
Robert Brodschneider
Robert Brodschneider is a researcher at the Institute of Biology of the University of Graz, Austria and lecturer of honey bee biology and pathology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna and the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. Since his master and PhD thesis he is studying honey bees. In his research he focusses on the nutrition of honey bees at adult, larval and colony level. In 2008 he established the investigation of colony losses in Austria, and since 2014 he has been co-chair of the international colony losses monitoring group of the honey bee research association COLOSS, where he is also an executive committee member since 2013. Robert is really interested to involve beekeepers in scientific research, which he conducts within the framework of Citizen Science.

Citizen Science and Public Participation in Bee Research

Citizen science is becoming more and more popular in the environmental sciences, monitoring and ecology.
Locations of experimental colonies, INSIGNIA Year 2
There are many definitions and examples of citizen science, but common characteristics are the recruitment and training of participants by research institutions. In entomology, citizen science has a long tradition. Provided that scientific principles are followed, the findings of citizen science studies can be published in peer reviewed journals. Beekeepers can contribute to research in different ways, ranging from providing data for crowdsourcing investigations, to helping by sample collection. Beekeepers have knowledge of honey bee husbandry, own livestock and have equipment for colony manipulations. With an estimated number of 600,000 beekeepers in Europe, this constitutes a huge pool of potential volunteers for scientific studies. In this presentation I will show examples of how beekeepers have participated in research, what scientific findings could be derived from these, and finally, what makes good practice in citizen science, including the motivations of beekeepers to participate.

Bee-Keepers' Question Time - Christmas Special
2020-12-16 19:30 - 20:30 | Your place!
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.

This event is free to all, CABK Members and friends
Registration for this event is now available, by clicking the link below
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2115907908677/WN_P8tav17RRZaBcSt3-8TvbA

The Panel

Celia Davis
Celia Davis has 2 great passions: gardening and insects, more particularly bees. She started bee-keeping 40 years ago, holds an NDB but has now reduced her bee-keeping to 2 colonies at the bottom of the (new) garden.
In an earlier life she was a teacher and lecturer, a visiting lecturer at 2 universities and now talks to various groups, including many bee-keeping organisations.
She also writes articles and has written two highly regarded books on bees. She has held various posts in Warwickshire Beekeepers Association over many years.

Roger Patterson
Roger Patterson started beekeeping in his native West Sussex in 1963. He is Apiary Manager and demonstrator for his local BKA and lectures and demonstrates widely, where his practical approach is appreciated.
He is an author, contributor to the beekeeping press and owns the well-known Dave Cushman’s website.
Roger uses colony management techniques that have stood the test of time, but may not be found in modern books. He is keen that beekeepers understand “the basics” and they keep healthy productive bees that suit their environment.
Roger is the Programme Secretary for the Central Association, Lecture Secretary for the National Honey Show, Vice Chairman, Education & Events Secretary of BIBBA and Vice President of BDI. He is a past Trustee of BBKA.

Robert Pickard
Robert Pickard is Emeritus Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Cardiff and President of the Central Association of Beekeepers. He is an Independent Member of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, Chair of the International Bee Research Associationand a former Editor of the Journal of Apicultural Research.
His research team developed new microelectronic technologies for the recording of biochemical activity in brains and tumours. In 1985, the first computerised atlas of the honeybee brain was illustrated at The Royal Society, in London, and Apimondia, in Nagoya.
Robert has studied bees since 1956 and his postgraduate students are spread through 50 different countries worldwide.

Virus Exchange between Honey Bees and Social Wasps - a talk by Andrea Highfield
2020-11-18 19:30 - 20:30 | Your house
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
Current CABK members will receive details of how to attend by email in advance.
Non-members are welcome to attend, for a small fee of £3, and may register using the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/9116039780366/WN_37fVc0B8Qzmo42vn-r0MDg

Dr Andrea Highfield
Dr Andrea Highfield is a molecular biologist working within the Cell and Molecular group at the Marine Biological Association of the U.K. Her research focus has mainly centred on the ecology of viruses and host interactions, including viruses that infect cyanobacteria and marine algae. She has been studying RNA viruses that infect honey bees for 15 years, primarily focusing on deformed wing virus. Recently she has extended her research, investigating the novel virus, moku virus, and its interactions with honey bees and wasps.

Virus Exchange between Honey Bees and Social Wasps
In this talk I will present research I have been conducting on honey bee viruses in social wasps, in particular in the invasive Asian hornet. I will also be speaking about the novel moku virus (MV) which was first discovered in 2012 on Big Island, Hawaii in the predatory social wasp, Vespula pensylvanica.
Our work has investigated the occurrence of MV in U.K. honey bees and also a variety social wasp species. I will be presenting the results from this study as well as recent research investigating the seasonality, diversity and distribution of this virus in U.K honey bees.

Social Evening 2020 "Wintering Bees - but not as we know it!"
2020-10-22 18:30 - 19:30 | Your house
Our annual Social Evening lecture will take place on Thursday 22nd October, during the National Honey Show.
Our lecturer will be Dr. Medhat Nasr, speaking from Alberta, Canada. He will be talking about the ways in which Canadian bee-keepers deal with the really harsh winters experienced on the Canadian Prairies.
This Social Evening talk will be a part of the virtual National Honey Show this year; Register for the National Honey Show and gain access to all events, including this talk. Simply be on-line at 6.30pm on Thursday and join the live-stream. Register for the whole Show from the NHS website.
Wintering Bees on the Canadian Prairies
In recent years honey bees across the globe have been challenged from a variety of stressors including the varroa mite, Varroa destructor, nosemosis, lack of nutrition, exposure to pesticides and climate change. These stressors can act singularly or interactively, causing high bee mortality, increased cost of production, and declined supply of healthy bees for crop pollination.
Canadian Winter Apiary
In Canada, we have another unpredictable stressor. It is called “winter”. The honey bees kept in Canadian Prairies are of temperate origin. Prairie beekeepers have to manage them to survive a long cold winter (over 5 months). These management practices simply take advantage of the bees’ ability to thermoregulate their clusters. Many beekeepers around the world think that Canadian Prairie beekeepers winter their bees in igloos, but over 65-70% of the bees are wintered outdoors, 20-25% wintered indoors (wintering facilities) and 10% wintered in Southern British Columbia, Canada.
Wintering practices in Canadian Prairies require special considerations to details and requirements to colony health and conditions. These practices will be discussed.

Dr. Medhat Nasr is a Canadian apiculturist, educator and regulator with over 50 years of experience in both the public and private sector. He served as Alberta Provincial Apiculturist for 19 years. In 1994 he was the first to introduce the concept of “Apiculture Tech-Transfer program” and established the first program in Ontario as a vehicle to do applied research and technology transfer to beekeepers.
His expertise encompasses a wide diverse range of skills including pest management, bee breeding, beekeeping management, and technology development and transfer. Research program resulted in developing formic acid registration for tracheal and varroa mite control (i.e. MiteWipe, Mite_Away, and Mite_Away2), Oxalic acid for Varroa treatment, HopGuard2 and Apivar® for varroa treatment. Currently, he continues to screen and develop alternative miticides for varroa control and management of resistance.

Medhat has passion for teaching. He has conducted many seminars and workshops and has given presentations at many conferences throughout Canada, United States, EU, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan and Argentina.
He received numerous awards for his contributions to the apiculture field in Canada and USA. In 2019 was awarded by the Canadian Honey Council “Willy Baumgartner Memorial Award” for outstanding contributions in improving the Canadian beekeeping industry. In 2018 he was awarded Outstanding Service Award by the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA). He was awarded “Roger A Morse Teaching, Extension, Regulatory Award” by the Eastern Apiculture Society- USA in 2015 and he was also awarded “Fred Rathje Memorial Award” by the Canadian Honey Council in 2010. Most recently, Medhat served as President of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists from 2013 to 2017.
He earned B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University, Giza, Egypt and Ph. D. from University of California, Davis in Entomology – Apiculture.

Viruses in Honey Bees and Humans - a talk by Prof. Robert Pickard
2020-09-16 19:30 - 20:30
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
Current CABK members should receive details of how to attend by email in advance.
Non-members are welcome to attend, for a small fee of £3, and may register using the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2815980415395/WN_kTEjYuLFQAOKP0BcAxliiA

Professor Robert Pickard
Robert Pickard is an Independent Member of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, Emeritus Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Cardiff, Visiting Professor at the Royal Agricultural University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, the Royal Society of Medicine and the Learned Society of Wales.
Robert Pickard
Professor Pickard has studied bees since 1956 and his postgraduate students are spread through 50 different countries worldwide. He is Chair of the International Bee Research Association, Patron of the Welsh Beekeepers Association and President of the UK Central Association of Beekeepers. Formerly, he was Editor of the Journal of Apicultural Research, Director-General of the British Nutrition Foundation, Chair of the UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management and Chair of the UK Consumers’ Association, Which?.
Viruses in Honeybees and Humans
Viruses exist at the borderline between the living and the non-living. Individual viruses probably outnumber all other systems in the world that contain nucleic acids. This talk illustrates the morphology of the different types of virus and the ways in which they invade host cells. The mechanism by which the viral genetic code is expressed is also described. Viruses constantly threaten the wellbeing of all complex organisms but they can also be extremely beneficial to them. Viruses transfer genes between different host species, add some of their code to their hosts’ DNA, and take some of the hosts’ code for themselves. In doing so, they can transform an evolutionary process. The production of the human placenta relies on a sequence of viral DNA that has been incorporated into the human genome. Signs of honeybee viral disease will be discussed along with activities in beekeeping that can reduce the problems created by viruses.

What's new in honey bee research in 2020? - a talk by Norman Carreck
2020-08-19 19:30 - 20:30
This event is a virtual event, hosted on Zoom.
Current CABK members should receive details of how to attend by email in advance.
Non-members are welcome to attend, for a small fee of £3, and may register using the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3415926549551/WN_W3leVbztQzOs03wokYe7Og

Norman Carreck NDB
Norman Carreck has been keeping bees for forty years, and has been a bee research scientist for twenty nine. He has lectured about bees on all continents where bees are kept, has written many scientific papers, book chapters, conference contributions and popular articles, has edited several books and regularly appeared in the media in many countries. He is a director of Carreck Consultancy Ltd and Bee Publishing Ltd. and is based at the University of Sussex, UK.

What’s new in Honey Bee research in 2020?

Since the start of 2020, more than 500 papers about honey bees have been published in refereed scientific journals. I will talk about a few new papers that I have found particularly useful. I will then talk about three projects that I am currently personally involved in. The first is the completion of Volume III of the COLOSS BEEBOOK on hive products, and looking forward to the next volume covering research on the eastern hive bee Apis cerana. Secondly, the INSIGNIA project aims to design and test a scientifically proven citizen science environmental monitoring protocol for the detection of pesticides via honey bees. 2020 is year two of the project, with scientists in nine European countries collecting pollen from colonies and using a novel in-hive passive sampler to monitor pesticides. In England nine citizen scientist beekeepers are monitoring two of their colonies ten times this season. Finally, the global Covid-19 crisis has affected many aspects of our lives, but what effect is it having on bee research? I will discuss the results of a survey of COLOSS members carried out during May 2020 to document the effects of the pandemic on bee research and extension activities, and suggest mitigation measures.

CABK Annual General Meeting 2020
2020-07-15 19:30 - 20:30
Details of how to attend this online event have been circulated to members.

Notice of 75th Annual General Meeting
The 75th AGM of the Central Association of Bee-Keepers will be held, on-line, on Wednesday 15th July 2020, starting at 7.30pm.

AGENDA
1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of 2019 AGM (available here)
3. Trustees’ Report
4. Treasurer’s Report and Approval of the 2019 Accounts
5. Election of Officers
5.1 President
5.2 Hon Secretary
5.3 Hon Treasurer
6. Election of Committee Members
7. Date of next Annual General Meeting
8. Forthcoming Events

Officers 2019
President: Prof Robert Pickard
Treasurer: Harold Cloutt
Secretary: Sue Carter
Committee 2019
Committee Chairman – Robert Smith
Programme Secretary – Roger Patterson
Distribution & Sales Secretary – Bill Fisher
Website – Simon Wilks
Other Committee Members:
John Chapple, John Gowar, Fiona Matheson,
Andrew Gibb, Pat Allen, Andy Pedley

Bee-Keepers' Question Time
2020-06-17 19:30
Bee-Keepers’ Question Time

Your chance to quiz the experts;
encompassing all areas of scientific,
technical and practical beekeeping

Robert Pickard, Celia Davis,
John Chapple and Roger Patterson
Via Zoom

The Panel

Celia Davis
Celia Davis has 2 great passions: gardening and insects, more particularly bees. She started bee-keeping 40 years ago, holds an NDB but has now reduced her bee-keeping to 2 colonies at the bottom of the (new) garden.
In an earlier life she was a teacher and lecturer, a visiting lecturer at 2 universities and now talks to various groups, including many bee-keeping organisations.
She also writes articles and has written two highly regarded books on bees. She has held various posts in Warwickshire Beekeepers Association over many years.

Roger Patterson
Roger Patterson started beekeeping in his native West Sussex in 1963. He is Apiary Manager and demonstrator for his local BKA and lectures and demonstrates widely, where his practical approach is appreciated.
He is an author, contributor to the beekeeping press and owns the well-known Dave Cushman’s website.
Roger uses colony management techniques that have stood the test of time, but may not be found in modern books. He is keen that beekeepers understand “the basics” and they keep healthy productive bees that suit their environment.
Roger is the Programme Secretary for the Central Association, Lecture Secretary for the National Honey Show, Vice Chairman, Education & Events Secretary of BIBBA and Vice President of BDI. He is a past Trustee of BBKA.

John Chapple
John Chapple started bee-keeping about thirty years ago and regards himself as being fortunate enough to keep his bees in three of the largest private gardens in London, the London Parks, as well as his own back yard.
He started his bee-keeping in the years before varroa and over the years have seen many more problems beset apiarists – almost all man made!
Nevertheless, John finds his bees are a never-ending source of interest and delight.
John has held various posts within London and Ealing BKAs and is past Chairman of CABK.

Robert Pickard
Robert Pickard is Emeritus Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Cardiff and President of the Central Association of Beekeepers. He is an Independent Member of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, Chair of the International Bee Research Associationand a former Editor of the Journal of Apicultural Research.
His research team developed new microelectronic technologies for the recording of biochemical activity in brains and tumours. In 1985, the first computerised atlas of the honeybee brain was illustrated at The Royal Society, in London, and Apimondia, in Nagoya.
Robert has studied bees since 1956 and his postgraduate students are spread through 50 different countries worldwide.

AGM 2020 POSTPONED
2020-03-14 | to be arranged
The Annual General Meeting of the CABK, due to be held during the BeeTradex event at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire will now be postponed until a date to be arranged, later in the year.

Spring Meeting 2020
2020-02-29 10:30 - 16:30
CABK are delighted to be bringing one of our main meetings of the year to beekeepers in the North of the Country. Our Spring meeting will be held on 29th of February at Arkendale Village Hall, Moor Lane, Arkendale, Knaresborough HG5 0RE.
10:00 for a 10:30 start.
Cost is £25 and includes buffet lunch
Speakers are:-
Annely Brandt is from the Bee Institute in Kirchhain Germany, she will be speaking on the “Effects of pesticides on bee health and fitness”. Annely has written numerous papers on her research work and we are pleased she has accepted our invitation to speak to us. Annely’s talk will cover some of her research work on the sublethal effects of the neonicotinoid clothianidin at the physiological level in individual larvae and nurse bees and to determine its impact on brood development of an entire colony.

Grace McCormack is a Professor in Zoology at NUI Galway and will be speaking about “Synergy between science and beekeeping” Apiculture has posed many questions of interest to science and applying the scientific method to questions raised by beekeepers has yielded many useful answers. This talk will focus on illustrating how Darwin’s evolutionary approach continues to be applied to help understand the origins and natural variability of honeybees, the relationships between the honeybees in Ireland and UK, how honeybees can adapt to the challenges of Varroa naturally, and how we can use this information to improve beekeeping.

John Chambers is an Oxfordshire beekeeper and his talk will be about “Basic Honey Bee Genetics For Beekeepers”. There is nothing “basic” about honey bee genetics but John answer three questions Firstly, is it possible or desirable to attempt the re-creation of pure Apis mellifera mellifera (AMM) strains and to entirely re-populate Great Britain and Ireland with them? Secondly, are AMM conservation areas likely to disappoint for obvious genetic reasons? Thirdly, might the simple pursuit of locally-adapted honey bees be preferable to the attempted re-creation of a subspecies? The presentation closes by explaining why further honey bee imports should be viewed as bad news and how we should be able to improve our local stock quickly, simply and optimally, using an augmented “bees know best” policy.

Professor Giles Budge from the University of Newcastle will give us a talk entitled “Chronic Bee Paralysis – an emerging threat to honey bee health”.
Chronic bee paralysis has a long history with honey bees. Signs of chronic bee paralysis include a range of individual and colony-level symptoms. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in reports of chronic bee paralysis by UK beekeepers and National Bee Unit inspectors. Giles is delivering a BBSRC funded project to better understand chronic bee paralysis. The project members comprise Newcastle University, the University of St Andrews, The Bee Farmers’ Association and the National Bee Unit. Giles will present a historic view of this interesting bee disease, and provide an update on the most recent research findings from the project.

Please come along and bring your beekeeping friends, non CABK members are very welcome.

Tickets can be booked at: https://www.cabk.org.uk/product/spring-meeting-2020/

Autumn Conference 2019
2019-11-15 - 2019-11-17 | Woodside Hotel, Glasshouse Lane, Kenilworth, CV8 2AL, United Kingdom
The CABK Autumn Conference will be held at the Woodside Hotel in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, a very comfortable hotel specialising in meetings and conferences, from Friday afternoon until Sunday lunchtime 15th – 17th November 2019. There will be 7 lectures at a relaxed pace over the 3 days with plenty of time to network with other beekeepers and with the researchers.
The CABK runs a Bursary Scheme to allow a young (18-25) beekeeper to attend with most costs (except travel) covered by the CABK. For further details, please follow the link.
The PROVISIONAL schedule (as of 8th Feb 2019) is as follows. Booking is now open.

Friday 15th November

20:30 – 21:45
Dylan Elen: What is left of the Welsh Dark bee?

Saturday 16th November

09:30 – 10:45
Tom Oliver: Pollinator tracking in agricultural landscapes

10:45 – 11:15
Coffee

11:15 – 12:30
Nicola Burns: Genetic studies of European foulbrood: virulence, persistence and antibiotic resistance

13:45 – 15:00
HaDi MaBouDi: What is the minimum network of cognition required to implement in Artificial intelligence?

15:00 – 15:30
Tea

15:30 – 16:45
Saorla Kavanagh: Irish honey – as good as Manuka?

Sunday 17th November

09:30 – 10:45
Paul Hurd: Honey bees are what they eat: how do differing diets result in queens or workers?

10:45 – 11:30
Coffee

11:30 – 12:45
Natasha de Vere: Plants for honeybees: using DNA barcoding to discover foraging preferences throughout the year

Social Evening 2019
2019-10-24 19:30 - 20:30 | Lower Green Community Centre, Farm Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8AU, United Kingdom
Our annual Social Evening will take place on Thursday 24th October, during the National Honey Show. The venue, Esher Cricket Club, is a 15 minute walk from Sandown Park Racecourse (see map below). Car parking is available.
The speaker will be Dr Ralph Büchler of the the Bee Institute in Kirchhain, Germany, who will talk and answer questions about his scientific career.
The talk will be followed by a finger buffet with wine or soft drink.
Tickets are £20 per person, and are available now.

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Dr Ralph Büchler
An Evening with Ralph Büchler
Ralph Büchler is a well respected bee scientist who has worked with honey bees all his adult life. For over 20 years he has led the Bee Institute in Kirchhain, which is one of the larger German beekeeping training and research centres. He has authored a large number of papers, book contributions and scientific films in addition to participating in many research projects.
Ralph will give four lectures to the National Honey Show Programme, but this presentation at the Central Association of Bee-Keepers (CABK) Social Evening will be in a lighter vein. In “An Evening with Ralph Büchler” Ralph will answer questions from the audience that hopefully will be about his career and some of the research work he has been involved in. There often appears to be a gap between beekeepers and scientists and this will be an opportunity to bridge it, so perhaps we can find out such things as how they operate, how they are funded, what goes right or wrong and how their findings filter down to ordinary beekeepers.
