Going to the heather - a blog courtesy of Jim Anderson

I took 4 hives up in late July and the heather which was close to the site looked good, it looked to have been burnt in the last year or so and my expectations were fairly high. The bees unfortunately did not share share my enthusiasm for the heather and went foraging elsewhere possibly to the rosebay willow herb. They seemed to be returning to the hives from on high rather than directly across the moor, anyway they produced not a frame of heather though did extremely well on what they were working, each hive continued as they had been during the summer and filled 3 supers each, there were traces of heather in the frame but that was it.

As there were only 2 other keepers who took bees I repaired the broken stand and took another 2 colonies up on 11th of August and they also were soon busy, filling 2 supers each and much to my surprise one got heather in one super, so it obviously had been yielding so who knows why the others didn't fancy it?

All in all it was fairly productive and I shouldn't be disappointed but I had hoped for more heather however you can't tell them where to go.

It has been an exceptional year and I doubt I will see the like again, they are now tucked up, I have paid my rents and the extractor is out of the kitchen, so looking forward to a quieter few months.

January 22 Update

Please let me introduce myself as the new Chairperson. My name is Alison Ramcharron and I have been beekeeping out on the east coast for over 10 years. I had wanted to keep bees since helping my Dad collect swarms when I was growing up, and was excited to start beekeeping a few years after we moved back to Scotland in 2009. Before moving north, I spent 20 years working in large computer software companies and was happy to leave that behind when we moved to Berwickshire. I joined the BBA in about 2011, and benefitted from one of the first beginners beekeeping courses, delivered by Norman Jarvis, and again encouraged by Norman, sat my Basic Beemaster Course.

I am a very keen sourdough baker, and am a Trustee in a heritage grain Community Benefit Society, growing and milling ancient varieties of wheat and rye in Fife. This makes wonderful bread which is appreciated by our teenage boys, and a few friends who I bake for. I hope everyone bears with me whilst I learn the ropes, and look forward to seeing everyone at the meetings.

I’m sure that all members will join with me in thanking John Wilkinson for his sterling work as Chair of BBA for the previous 3 years or so. During the changes to online meetings in particular, he has been a safe pair of hands guiding us through the new systems. John has agreed to remain on the committee to ensure that there is a smooth transition.

2022 AGM

The AGM was held on 19th January 2022 on Zoom and was well attended. The meeting was recorded with everyone’s permission and the link to the meeting recording is here
The minutes for the meeting are on the website and can be accessed here

January talk

The AGM was followed by a really interesting talk and demonstration by Simon and Caroline Cavill from BeeGood cosmetics

Simon has offered Borders Beekeepers Association members the opportunity to by products with a 15% discount. If you would like to try the BeeGood range of skincare and gift sets, please go to the website and use the discount code bordersbees in the checkout to receive a 15% discount on any items.

Caroline has offered BBA members the recipe below for lipbalm

LIPBALM RECIPE

120g of Rapeseed or Sunflower oil

40g Cocoa butter

40g of shredded beeswax

1.  Have a saucepan of freshly boiled water available to act as a bain-marie.

2.  Use a Pyrex jug and pour in the oil.

3.  Warm slightly in the microwave for about 2 mins

4.  Add the beeswax into the jug with the oil and stir with a wooden barbeque stick or coffee stirrer etc until the wax has dissolved. Place the jug into the bain-marie to keep warm.

5.  Add the Cocoa butter into the Pyrex jug and again stir until dissolved.

6.  Pour into your chosen lip balm containers and allow to cool.

If you use beeswax from supers where you have recently harvested the honey, you won’t need to add any flavouring and you should have a lovely honey flavoured lip balm. If you do want flavouring, make sure it is specifically for lip balm and in an oil. Freshskin do some lovely natural flavours. If using lip balm tubes, to make the mixture more solid use 110g oil, 45g beeswax and 45g of Cocoa butter.

Syrup supplies

If any members feel that they will need supplies of syrup around April or May, please contact John Dow ASAP so that she can ensure that she has enough supplies and to confirm payment and collection arrangements.

November 2021 Update

HONEY SHOW RESULTS

Thanks to all those who attended the Honey Show. Congratulations to John Dow for winning the trophy for the entrant with the most overall points and to Miranda Brackenbury for winning the Kev and Liz Howell shield for the most points in the novice section. I would also like to thank Fiona Hawke and Julie McDiarmid for all their help in organising the show along with the other members of the committee. I am sure we all learnt a lot from David Wright (our judge) and as he said, its about encouraging people to enter in the future and to help us all to improve our overall standards of beekeeping. I think some photographs will be emerging on our facebook page

Honey Show 2021 Results can be found here on our website

FUTURE MEETINGS

Winter Meetings we have decided that the December, January and February meetings will be on-line. With the levels of COVID in the borders continuing to be high and the winter evenings the committee decided this was the best option.

Details of all future meetings can be found in our Events Page - HERE

HONEY SHOW - REMINDER

Our honey show for 2021 will be held on Sunday 7th November 2021 at Kelso Rugby Club (TD5 7EH) from 1300 to 1600. Please bring entries from 1300 onwards to allow judging to start at 1400. This year our judge will be David Wright from Edinburgh.

Schedules and notes can be found here on the BBA website

This is a great chance to learn about what makes a good jar of honey (and everything else) and what the judges are looking for. It’s always a great afternoon.There will be the usual raffle so please bring prizes. New beekeepers are especially encouraged to participate - last time all our trophies were scooped by a first year beekeeper!

COVID Precautions

As we are still in a pandemic, we will be taking precautions at the honey show. Please do not come if you are feeling unwell. Please wear a mask when moving about and use the hand sanitisers. We will place the seating in such a way to ensure social distancing.

Coffee, tea and biscuits will be available but please bring your own mug.

October 2021 Update

REMINDER FUTURE MEETINGS

Our first face to face meeting for some time will be held at Kelso Rugby Club at 7.30 on Wednesday October 6th. The speaker will be Kate Atchley who will talk will be The Heather: preparing hives & harvesting.

The rugby club provides plenty of room for social distancing. Please wear a mask on entry and use the hand sanitiser and wear a mask when moving around. We want to do everything to keep you as safe as possible

It should be a good evening with the usual raffle. We would like you to bring your own mug in these COVID times. Any prizes for the raffle greatly appreciated.

August 2021 Update

The committee held its monthly on line meeting last week. we are looking forward to getting back to some semblance of normality as the country gradually re-opens after the pandemic.

AUTUMN AND WINTER MEETINGS

Our first autumn meeting is to be held on Tuesday 7th September starting at 7pm and will be ON-LINE

This will be an on line meeting given by Professor David Evans, professor of virology at St Andrew’s University who writes prolifically about beekeeping subjects and also publishes a fortnightly tweet as the apiarist. David has asked to start the meeting at 7pm as he says there is a lot of material to cover. The subject ‘Preparing for Winter’ is something that should interest us all so I hope that as many members as possible will attend and be ready with lots of questions. The link for the meeting is here

The meeting will be recorded and will be made available to members after the meeting.

OTHER MEETINGS

We are planning to hold the first face to face meeting of the association for some time, in October, but we are still struggling to find a venue which will be big enough to allow plenty of space for social distancing.

HONEY SHOW

We are once again planning a Honey Show for the association which will be held on Sunday 7th November from 1pm to 4pm. The details will be announced later, but the plan is for exhibitors to display their entries from 1-2pm with an open judging from 2 onwards. The venue is still to be decided as we are not able at present to book school venues. Schedules and notes for previous years can be found under the events section/honey show on our website.

BEGINNERS COURSE

We decided that we would run the beginner’s course again this year, but with some modifications. We have already had strong interest. We are planning to hold at least two courses, one starting in October/November and one in January 2021. We plan to limit the course numbers to 12 and to hold both face to face and on-line sessions. We very much hope that those who have helped out in the past will be willing to help out again this time. We are also looking for more people willing to be tutors on the course, which gives us the possibility or running more courses if there is the demand. As an incentive to participate and in recognition of the time commitment, the committee has agreed that tutors on the course will be paid an honorarium of £50 per session. If you are interested in being involved please contact John here. Ideally you will have the SBA Basic Certificate or if not some equivalent experience and have kept bees for a several years.

We will be publishing details of the course(s) shortly on the association website.

FONDANT AND SYRUP

We have fondant and syrup available for members but please note it is for collection only from Lanton. If you require either, please contact Wendy here who will agree a suitable time for collection. Payment must be made in advance by bank transfer to the association account - Wendy will give you details. The cost of fondant remains £20 but a price increase of syrup means we now need to charge £19 for a container of syrup.

April 2021 Update

QUEEN REARING TALK

We had a great talk from Stewart Spinks from the Norfolk Honey Company last night on the subject of queen rearing.

As promised here is the link for those who missed the talk or for those who want to watch it again. Please note you will require a password to access this recording which was provided in your Emailed Newsletter

I’m in the process of collecting all our talks on to a you tube site, as Zoom has limited storage space which we have rapidly exceeded. I’ll let you know when that site is available so that you will be able to access the earlier talks we have had this year. 

I’ve also attached a link to the Norfolk Honey Company website which I hope you find useful.

Stewart does have a subscription site where he produces weekly podcasts and instructional and informative videos here.

Feb 2021 Update

A brief update in the bleak days of February during a pandemic..

Hope you are all keeping well and safe.

We held a committee meeting a couple of weeks ago, but not a lot to discuss at the present time. We are hoping that as lockdowns gradually ease we may be able to think about starting to return to some degree of normality during the coming year. We still need a treasurer, so if you feel like giving it a go, please contact me. Associations don’t run themselves I’m afraid, so please help out if you can.

Pollens harvested by bees April to September - 10th February at 7.30pm

There is another talk next Wednesday given by Kate Atchley on Pollen collected by bees April to September. Our on line talks have all gone very well and if you haven’t joined in, I would urge you to do so. I think we will probably continue some on line talks in the future after the pandemic. Sitting at home with a glass of wine listening to a talk has its advantages, and also we are able to engage speakers from further afield without the additional hassle of having to travel and stay over etc.

Changes to Fondant and Syrup Purchase and Collection

We are still providing members with the opportunity to buy discounted fondant and syrup. We have centralised our store of fondant and syrup at Wendy Frost’s house in Lanton as Caroline is now working from home so is not able to oversee collection from Swinton Mill. We realise Lanton isn’t very accessible to those who live over towards the coast, but this arrangement will only continue as long as the pandemic continues and we will make sure there is a collection point on the eastern side of the district in future.

Payment should still be made by contacting Craig Fenton who has kindly agreed to continue to manage this having stood down as treasurer. You can contact Craig here. Could anyone who has taken fondant and not yet paid, please do so as a matter of urgency.

Future meeting - Questions and Answers - March 10th 7.30pm

We have also arranged a meeting in March which again will be online. This is a panel discussion and question and answer session. The panel members will be Norman Jarvis, Kate Atchley and Matthew Richardson. Please have plenty of questions ready or if you are able email me in advance. The topic is ‘Preparing for the season’ but I guess the panel will be very happy to discuss anything beekeeping related.

Honey Show November 3rd 2019

We had a very successful Honey Show at Kelso High School in November. There were lots of entries, many from new beekeepers and indeed it was a new beekeeper, Edward Withers, who swept the board with both trophies, the Howell Trophy for Novice Beekeepers AND the Borders Beekeepers Trophy for most points overall. His winning honey cake was delicious and has prompted an idea for next year to publish the recipe for a new baking class where we all use the same recipe and the best cake wins! The school beekeepers put on a blind honey tasting event which was great fun. It included some unusual honeys such as Chestnut and Honeydew. Thanks to Norman Jarvis for distributing a number of honey frame display cases, we had a record number of entries in that class. We all learn so much from having open judging, so Ray, next year, remember not to screw down the lid of your display case and glue the frame in as the judge needs to be able to lift it out to have a good inspection! Huge thanks to our chairman John Wilkinson for all his hard work, Ray Baxter for arranging the School’s honey tasting, and a massive thank you to Enid Brown for judging.

The Duns Show - 3rd August 2019 - What a glorious day

A constant flow of people visiting our display tent and asking questions about honey bees. Lots of local honey sold from the Lammermuir’s, Manderston Gardens and a secret orchard in Melrose. Borders honey at its best !! Everyone loved the observation hive and being able to get up close to the queen bee and her daughters.