Aug 31 2019
Honey Show

The annual honey show is just a few weeks away.
The show will be held at Simpsons Garden Centre on Saturday 28th – Sunday 29th September.
Simpsons will have plenty of bee friendly plants in store and honey products as well as bulbs, seeds and books.

Meanwhile, Inverness-shire Beekeepers Association members will be on hand to talk about beekeeping along with our display hive.
The Honey Show will be open to all beekeepers while any members who enter can bring along honey for sale at the show. There are lots of different classes and all members are encouraged to enter as many as they can, even if it's just one jar of honey, a cake, or tablet.

If you're interested in entering have a look at the schedule below for class descriptions and rules.
Inverness Honey Show Schedule

Mark P 0 Comments
May 17 2019
A Thank You to Fred

Fred Millwood was recently called out to deal with a swarm in a tree near Cameron Youth Centre. Below is the email we got from them to thank Fred.

Dear All

Just a quick note to say 'Thank You' to Fred from the Inverness-shire Bee Keepers Association for removing a swarm so promptly yesterday afternoon (14/05/19) from by the car park at Cameron Youth Centre - Inverness.
There were user groups in, including children and his prompt attendance meant that the swarm was removed safely with no harm done to either them OR the Bees!
Our steward Kenny also learned a lot from Fred about bees during his visit.

We hope that the bees enjoy their new home.

Once again - thank you!

Mark P 0 Comments
Nov 18 2018
This Years’ Apiary Works

Quite a bit of work has been done around the new apiary site since the grand opening in April this year.

Firstly, back in August, some landscaping was done around "Fred's Shed". The digger driver was our member Colin Robertson.

 

Just as well he knows his way around landscaping machinery as we nearly got stuck in a particularly wet part of the site – the tracks were completely submerged under mud. The efforts have made a big difference to the site and we now have a small permanent stream running through the site which the bees will appreciate next summer.

In October Des and I held our first 'Fencing Masterclass'. There is no end to the training opportunities available to IBA members! Margaret Lashley and Mark Paton attended and we were blessed with the best of weather on both days. We mended the fence along the road and put in a new strainer and entrance gate to close off the gap from the farm road.

We also put additional wire down the field fence with the adjacent field. This will keep the site free of sheep this winter so all our newly planted shrubs and trees will be safe. More plants are always needed if anyone is throwing out surplus perennial plants or shrubs that might be useful grazing for the club bees.
There is still about the same amount of fencing required on a further side of the site which we will tackle next year at a further 'masterclass'.

Regular maintenance is also required at Knocknagael during the summer – with enough volunteers it should amount to no more than an hour of work on a weekend morning once a month – so keep an eye out for dates published on the website and Facebook.
Come along and help the Apiary followed by a cup of tea and a chat about bees...

Mark P 0 Comments
Oct 11 2018
Honey Show 2018

The 2018 Inverness-shire Beekeepers’ Association Honey Show was held again at Simpsons Garden Centre. This is a great location with very friendly staff – and it is free! The main challenge in setting up is that we (and Simpsons!) don’t know where in the centre we will be allocated until mid-day on the day before the show as they are setting up for Christmas at this time of the year. Madness. In the end we had a super spot beside the entrance to the restaurant.

Our judge was Hugh Donohoe from Banchory, ably assisted by stewards Jed Russell and Margaret Bryant. On both days we had good teams of helpers complete with sashes to help with dealing with the public. There were 23 exhibitors with 54 entries compared with last year‘s 20 exhibitors and 56 entries.

It was encouraging to see a few new exhibitors and generally the standard was very high. No matter what the result is, everyone learns something. Beekeepers are a friendly bunch.

Des Kelly and Margaret Lashley fitted out the observation hive with live bees and a red marked queen. This is always a popular part of the show. Kay Kelly did wonderful face painting both days and not just for children’s faces.
Bryce Reynard did some skep making demonstrations at times. Simpsons provided a colouring competition for children.

Quite a few of the exhibitors were able to sell their honey to a very appreciative public and 10% of the sales money will go to the association.

Fred and Jean Millwood won the Peterkin Cup for the best honey exhibit in the show. Stella Chisholm won the new Donald Matheson Quaich for the best two jars of blossom honey and also the silver spoon for her cake as well as getting a first prize for her tablet. Margaret Bryant won the Newcomers Shield. Bryce and Elizabeth Reynard won some of the other trophies although there were few entries in some of the classes.

Gift jars of honey have been given to non-beekeeping people that have directly helped in making the show a success.
Remember to come along to the prize giving at the association Christmas Dinner at the Lochardil Hotel on Friday 23 November.

Next year we want even more exhibitors and exhibits, so start your planning now.

Mark P 0 Comments
Sep 5 2018
Honey Show

The annual honey show is just a few weeks away.
The show will be held at Simpsons Garden Centre during their Highland Honey Weekend on Saturday 29th – Sunday 30th September.
Simpsons will have plenty of bee friendly plants in store and honey products as well as bulbs, seeds and books. Meanwhile, Inverness-shire Beekeepers Association members will be on hand to talk about beekeeping along with our display hive.

The Honey Show will be open to all beekeepers while any members who enter can bring along honey for sale at the show. There are lots of different classes and all members are encouraged to enter as many as they can, even if it's just one jar of honey, a cake, or tablet.
If you're interested in entering have a look at the schedule below for class descriptions and rules.
Inverness Honey Show Schedule

Mark P 0 Comments
Aug 6 2018
Thoughts of a Newbie (Newbee?) Beekeeper

I've had my bees for about a month now and thought I'd share a few thoughts on how it's going.

  • You wouldn't know they're there.
    Basically, the hive can't be seen easily from anywhere in the garden because it's down a small hill.  
    Spot the beehive.
    At the same time the bees just get on with it and don't bother anybody in the garden (unlike the wasps who are more like attention seeking teenagers in many ways). That might be because most of the plants are on the hill as well though.
  • I had no idea how desperate people are for local honey.
    I've already got orders for honey and I won't have any 'till next year at the earliest.
  • Books only get you so far.
    I read loads about beekeeping before actually getting bees but the day I got them I felt totally under prepared, and probably still am. The bees seem to know what they're doing though even if I don't.
  • Beekeeping is straightforward. As long as you're prepared.
    I won't list them here but I kept (who am I kidding - keep) forgetting things. Lots of things.
  • I have 'nice' bees.
    It may be a weird rose tinted spectacle thing but I seem to have 'nice' bees. I've done a couple of inspections and they never seem overly fussed by it. If anything they just want to get on with their own work. So much so that I can get fairly close to my hive and they just ignore me. (I'm probably tempting fate by writing that down)
  • My bees are taunting me.
    I still haven't found the queen. I'm not worried by that fact since I've found plenty of developing brood. I've definitely found larvae and I'm pretty sure eggs but still haven't found the queen. The annoying thing is that during my inspections, when I return the frame I'm pretty sure the queen is hiding on, a group of bees always perch themselves on that frame and start fanning. This could just be to let the other bees milling about know where the queen is but it definitely feels more like "She's right here. Haha."

It's still early but the weather's been good, my bees seem really active and the colony is slowly expanding. Hopefully they'll have no issues over winter and we'll get more good weather next year.
If I can find the queen at least once before then I'll be happy!

Mark P 0 Comments
Jul 23 2018
Highland Garden Fest

This past weekend Inverness-shire Beekeepers' Association ran a stall at Highland Garden Fest in Inverness Botanic Gardens. We had an observation hive along with us, which seemed to be a big draw, as well as some candle rolling wax which was so popular with younger attendees that we ran out. The event was a great success with regular queues of attendees looking to chat to a beekeeper or to find out about beekeeping courses.

A big thanks goes to Rebecca for organising the event and to Des for bringing along the bees.

Mark P 0 Comments