I took this a while ago. Here we see the scout bees waggle dancing to recruit other scouts to check out her contribution to the discussion of where the colony will set up a new home.

http://www.urbanbees.co.uk/video/video.htm

I came across this supplier in Hounslow. It looks like he is making a good quality product at a good price.

http://www.thebeehiveworkshop.co.uk

We have just heard that the first of the many new beehive locations has been agreed.

Can’t give the details but it is on the roof of an interesting building in the city.

Details to follow.

This year the City Of London Festival is embracing the International Year of Biodiversity by introducing a number of hives into the square mile and putting on a number of artisitic installations.

Urban Bees are working with CoLF and their partners to advise and train the new beekeeping community. Today we had a look at two potential sites. More details when things are finalised.

It is going to be exciting to have the buzz of more bees in the city.

It seems that the popularity of urban beekeeping is growing. Here is an article form Earth911.com about the trend.

You want to keep bees and would like to know if there is someone in your area who wants to buddy up or you want to find someone who is experienced.
Using our new map you could insert your own location onto the map and let others know if you have a colony or if you are looking to start.

Check it out at urbanbees.co.uk.

We have just come back from a trip to Cambodia where we were lucky enough get involved with a honey harvest of wild Apis Dorsata bees with a local honey hunter. Here are some of the pictures. The honey hunter erected a rafter ( a large straight branch of wood) which seem to be just the ideal nesting position for the wild bees. The bees build their nest on the rafter and when the honey is ready the honey hunter smokes the bees away and cuts down the honey head. The bees will replace the honey and the process can be repeated. Historically the honey hunters were more inclined to cut down the whole strucutre and eat the larvae but they are now encourage to collect just the honey which gets a good price with the tourists hotels.

It was an amazing experience to be there and see it first hand.

The bees don’t like the cold but with the bright sunny day we had yesterday our Battersea bees were eager for a breath of fresh air and they took to the air for a short flight. We were pleased we saw them since I have heard from others who mentioned that their colonies had died over the cold winter. It looks like our Battersea bees had enough honey stores to see them through this part of the winter. Still a few weeks to go before it is over and the queen is laying more and more eggs from now on which will mean more food will be required to feed the little critters.

We know that the bees take flight on sunny, cold days. It is said they do this to relieve themselves, to gather pollen and for the younger bees a chance to orientate themselves but I suspect that they just also take the chance to get out and about, stretch their wings and have a jolly. As can been seen from the video I shot yesterday video link we see that they were very active. It was around 2pm and 13 degrees C so I was a bit surprised to see quite as much activity as I did. I was so impressed I quickly grabbed the camera and shot a few minutes of video. Click here to watch the video

Wednesday night at the Beethoven Centre saw a packed hall of QP residents interested in how they could save money by being more environmentally aware. (click this link to leaflet) Urban Bees were there to gauge the resident’s opinion regarding a community apiary in their area. The response was positive. Some people were happy to encourage the idea of a community apiary while stipulating they didn’t actually want to get inside a hive while others were keen to learn about the beekeeping process.
We hope that with the involvement of the QP residents and the help from the Paddington Development Trust we can have a community apiary in the Queen’s Park area. This would be great for the bees, the flowering plants and the residents who will learn how to keep bees.
Want to know more get in touch with Brian at brian@urbanbees.co.uk

We ran our sixth course of the year on Sunday. Of the 20 who booked a place, some 15 turned up, which means that more than 80 aspiring apiarists have been on an Urban Bees taster course in 2009. We’re not quite sure how many have gone on to keep bees. We know of two for sure, who have kept in touch, sent photos and one of whom has appeared in the press as an example of that new phenomenon; the rise of the young urban beekeeper. We know that the shortage of bees this summer made it difficult for many would-be beekeepers to get going, others who came on the course were waiting until they’d moved house, or even country, before they took up the hobby. Others wanted to pair up with an experienced beekeeper before taking the plunge or to attend a longer, pratical course, but with some beekeepers’ associations reporting waiting lists of up to two or three years, this isn’t going to happen soon.

We’ve had great feedback from participants who’ve attended courses throughout the year and have emailed to thank us for such an informative day, to tell us that their beekeeping book now makes a lot more sense, and that they’d recommend Urban Bees to anyone considering becoming a beekeeper.

At Urban Bees we are looking a ways we can help all those people who have come on our taster course to channel that enthusiam and exictement into actual beekeeping. Over the next month or so we will be looking at how we can put would-be apiarists who have come on our courses and live near to each other in touch and provide you with what you need to make it as easy as possible to get started in spring 2010. Already two partcipants on Sunday’s course have asked us to supply them with a hive and bees. We will be exploring how we can develop this service.

Our next course is on 10 January. We hope it will be the beginning of an exciting year for Urban Bees and urban beekeeping.

We were at the Tricycle Theatre and the Gate Cinema last week witht the co-director of the film, Vanishing of the Bees, Maryam Henein. We were on stage for the QandA’s after the screening. It was great to see so many people interested in the welfare of the bees.

One our pupils who came on a taster course earlier in year, was featured by AFP as a new breed of London beekeepers. Jon told the reporter that a one day course on urban beekeeping had set him on the right path.

Well done Jon, keep up the good work.

Our course in September went down really well.

Here are some comments:

“Just a note to say thanks so much for yesterday, it was great! I really enjoyed the whole day – the information, the lunch and meeting the bees. It was lovely to meet you too!”
Joanna

“Just wanted to say thanks again for Sunday. I’ve been reading my bee books again and it all makes much more sense now. I was interested in keeping bees before but am now definitely planning to make a start next spring. I’ll certainly recommend Urban Bees to anyone I know who’s interested in learning more.
Cathy”

The London Ladies Club invited us to give a talk about urban beekeeping. We went along today and were warmly received. I think we surprised a few people with the fact we kept bees in a small Battersea garden.

Smoker and hive in Queen's Park

We were being filmed for AFP by Leon – the camera man and at the same time I was also giving advice to a recently started beekeeping couple so I was hoping the bees would behave. And they did. They were so sweet. We had a good look around and not one bee stung anyone. It was a lovely sunny day so that helped. Hopefully will get a photo or two to put up on the site.

The shame was there was no honey for us from this hive this year. The bees have some but I will leave that for them. I did put on a tub of apiguard to keep the varroa in check – though this hive was really clear of the little pests.

Here’s a question that maybe someone could answer.

We were asked about the type of sugar war time beekeepers gave their bees – was it cane or beet sugar?

Did the UK still have imports of cane sugar during the war?

If anyone knows please leave a comment or email me at
brian@urbanbees.co.uk

We were filmed the other day for the AL Jazeera TV network.

They filmed us, our famous Prof Ratnieks and were on top of Fortnum’s where Steve has his hives. ( I was up there last month).

Click this link to watch
http://www.urbanbees.co.uk/UB_video/Aljazera.htm