• SKEPS AND THINGS
• THE HORN
• BEEKEEPING NOTES ▼
  • BEEHIVES IN STRAW AND WILLOW
  • HONEY SHOWS
  • BEESWAX
  • RUNNING A HONEY SHOW
  • BEESWAX CANDLES
  • YOUR OWN BEE TENT
• TALKS AND DEMONSTRATIONS
• Guest Book
• CONTACT FORM - E-MAIL ME
• LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
• PLANTS OF NEWTON BLOSSOMVILLE ▼
  • PLANTS IN THE MILLENNIUM FIELD
• MUSIC LISTS
• WILLOW BASKETS
• MODELLING WITH BEESWAX
• ORKNEY CHAIR RENOVATION
• BASKETS' NAMES

Beekeeping notes               

Here's a fine swarm hanging in a hedge just where Nick the wall man wants to re-build the wall.
And here comes the 17th century beekeeper in his protective clothing - long smock and veil made of willow, the same as the bottom of a basket. We are at Grayhill, the 17th century living history site, a farm where everything is done the 17th century way.
	Yes it's me, folks, in my copy of a beekeeper's clothing in a Breughel painting from about 1560.   It's very safe in there and you can see out surprisingly well but it gets a bit hot in the sun.
The skep is made from long wheat straw and bound with bramble strips, so it's all locally grown material. Inside you can see the rose sticks that give a support to the combs the bees will build.
	Our beekeeper shakes the branch suddenly so that most of the bees (about 10,000) fall into the upturned skep.  If the queen goes in all the others will follow, due to the scent of the queen. He's keeping his hands inside his sleeves - it must be a thorny bush! (I could see no sign of gloves on the Breughel picture, so I'm not wearing any.)
He puts the skep on a cloth, waits until all the bees have gone inside, then wraps it up and takes it away.
A pity it was done in a hurry because those green wellies are definitely NOT 17th century gear!
	Thanks to the brave Judi for taking the photos!

Different sorts of bees.  There are several hundred different sorts of bees, most of them solitary. Only the honey bees (of which there are about 6 kinds worldwide) store honey so that they can live through a difficult season and get a head start when things improve.

BWARS  is the Bee Wasp and Ant Recording Society. The members keep records of all the different species they find and help each other with identification and advice. Visit the BWARS website to find out more.

There are dozens of books about beekeeping so it would be a waste of space putting basic information here. If you want a good web source for bee information go to the BBKA (The British Beekeepers Association ) site. Just google search for BBKA.