Event highlights

Each of our online events is recorded for you to be able to enjoy on demand.

Online

'The Mind of a Bee' by Professor Lars Chittka

Professor Chittka draws from decades of research, including his own pioneering work, to argue that bees have remarkable cognitive abilities.

The talk was presented by BeeCraft and Somerset Beekeepers’ Association 

In the magazine

July 2022: Channel Islanders are continuing their fight against Asian hornets. Jersey and Guernsey have seperate governments and each adopts a slightly different approach. Co-editor Stephen Flemming returned to examine lessons learnt and filmed short video clips of a nest removal.

 April 2022: We're approaching the time of year when Asian hornet queens will be emerging from hibernation. We don’t know if there are any Asian hornet queens over-wintering in the UK but the experience on the Channel Islands shows we need to be prepared. Read the story about one beekeeper's encounter. Video footage taken by co-editor Stephen Fleming on Jersey.

April 2022: Liverpool beekeeper Barry Chang tells his story in this month's 'Drifting'.

Podcasts

Queen Bees with Jane Horrocks and Esther Coles

Streaker Bees!

"Streaker bees, why you should keep a diary for posterity and how the bees can predict the weather in this episode as Stephen Fleming, co-editor of BeeCraft magazine, joins the girls down the line. A brilliant expert and a fab guest."

The Big Bee Field Trip

"Esther tells Jane all about her big field trip to Basingstoke to find a drone congregation area (DCA). Her guide for the day was Stephen Fleming (Co-editor of BeeCraft magazine) and along the way Esther found out some fascinating facts about bee keeping history but also visited some wonderful fields of lavender - a dream day out indeed. Packed full of facts and fun, and also a cheeky trip to the pub!"

Living Beeing with Chris Park

The Drone Whisperer. Stephen Fleming guides us up the zig-zag path

"We follow in the footsteps of the renowned Gilbert White - naturalist, ecologist and ornithologist - on our first location recording in Gilbert’s hometown of Selborne, almost exactly 300 years after his birth. On a glorious summer’s day in July, our guide, Stephen Fleming (AKA Drone Whisperer and co-editor of Bee Craft magazine: www.bee-craft.com) takes us to the exact spot where Gilbert heard a strange humming sound. We learn more about the mysterious DCA - no, not a 70’s rock cover band nor a complex unit of electricity, but a Drone Congregation Area. Our adventure leaves more questions unanswered than answered and more mysteries to ponder. For example: how do drones know where to go in their final, fateful or fruitless flight to mate with a queen; how does the queen find them; what links these magical places to ancient settlements, hill forts and peoples of old; is there, perhaps, a DCA somewhere near you?

Radio

August 2022: Our co-editor Stephen Fleming is making the news through his involvement with the ‘game of drones’ on the Isles of Scilly.

Research to discover whether drones are sea-faring buccaneers prepared to cross large expanses of water to mate continues. Although the drone population is now declining, there are still some drones on the wing on Scilly.

The Times is the latest to take an interest. Find out what Stephen told Mariella Frostrup on Times Radio, about 24 minutes in: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/20220830-14791/2022-08-30

Co-editor Stephen Fleming shared his interest in Drone Congregation Areas with a wider audience through BBC Broadcasting House presented by Paddy O'Connell. To listen to the segment, forward to 41:08. 

Research Lectures

In February 2021 we co-hosted two research lectures with the Central Association of Bee-Keepers. Our lecturers were Ayla Paul from Reading University and Hamish Symington from Cambridge University who kindly gave us permission to record their talks.

Ayla is completing her PhD thesis looking at the origin and authenticity of UK honey samples and outlines insights into the various methods she's using to develop an ’isoscape’ for the UK. See Ayla's article about her work in the April 2021 issue of BeeCraft.

Hamish is a final-year PhD student in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge. In this talk he explores 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. BeeCraft looks forward to publishing an article by Hamish about his research.

National Honey Show

In October 2020 we were delighted to take part in the first online National Honey Show. In an exclusive series of BeeCraft Cameos we talked to some of the people involved in the magazine.

Thomas D. Seeley, biologist and writer, and the Horace White Professor in Biology at Cornell University, talks about nest-site scouts, a subject he expands on in the May 2021 edition.

Dr Sammy Ramsey, a Research Fellow with the USDA Bee Research Laboratory at the Agricultural Research Service, talks to BeeCraft co-editor Stephen Fleming about the reaction to his ground-breaking research which first identified that varroa feeds on the honey bee's fat bodies and not the haemolymph. He wrote for us a couple of years ago and we're looking forward to more articles in the future.

Dr Martin Bencsik, an Associate Professor at Nottingham Trent University, talks about what bees can tell us through their vibrations.

Honey sommelier Sarah Wyndham Lewis, who writes a monthly column for BeeCraft about honeys from around the world, gives a tasting masterclass.

Matthew Ingram from Holt Hall Apiary, Staffordshire, explains why he moves his hives to an overwintering apiary. Matthew writes a monthly letter in the magazine.

Artist Jacob Trood works with bees and in this Cameo he talks to his grandfather Neil about how he gets the bees onside. A feature about Jacob’s art appeared in BeeCraft October 2020. Sadly Neil died in January 2021.

David Charles, a beekeeper for more than 60 years and BBKA past President, talks about a new series launched in BeeCraft in November 2020. Sadly David died in January 2021.