We went to a wedding knowing that a swarm of bees was hanging high up on the 11th century church. I left the empty hive on a dustbin and, when we came out, they had taken up residence. The swarm would be hanging on the church because the ‘scouts’ would have identified a place to…
I am surprised to learn that a small sample of our black bees have shown themselves to be 90-94% Apis mellifera mellifera as a result of genetic analysis undertaken by Dr Mark Barnett of Beebytes Analytics CIC. During the 1950’s very many Italian queens were imported into this country and so it was very normal…
There are many animals found in beehives. The pygmy shrew often spends the winter in the inner cover of a beehive where he eats dead bees and leaves a pile of black excrement in a convenient corner. When we find the pygmy shrews they are often dead, probably from ingesting too much venom. They do…
