SBKA Events for 2012

LECTURE DAY

Saturday 18 th February 2012 9:00am – 5:10pm

At

The Kings of Wessex Academy

Station Road, Cheddar, Somerset . BS27 3AQ

PROGRAMME

9.00am - Tea/Coffee and Welsh cake, crumpet or pikelet

9.30am - Opening by Ken Edwards , President of SBKA

9.35am - The Desperate World of Laying Workers – Dr. Jim Tew

10.40am – Apis Through the Looking Glass – Graham Royle NDB

11.45am - Tea/Coffee and biscuits.

12.05pm - The Asian Hornet – the threat posed to beekeeping in the UK - Dr Gay Marris Ph.D.

1.10pm - Lunch

1.30pm - 2.35pm Nosema Workshop - Adam Vevers B.Sc., RBI and team

2.35pm - Ventilation Requirements in the Natural Bee World – Dr. Jim Tew

3.40pm - Tea/Coffee and cake

4.05pm - Nectar Robbing – an interesting method of foraging by bees – Nic Charleton B.Sc.

5.15pm - Close

  Map available here as pdf file for printing ........

TICKETS

SBKA members may purchase their tickets now through their Divisional Secretaries or from Caroline Butter after 31 st December 2012.

These will be available to non-Somerset Beekeepers Assoc. members after 1 st Jan. 2012. Bookings can be made but no ticket will be sent out until after the 1 st January. They will cost £20 and any application should be accompanied by a cheque made out Somerset Beekeepers Association and a stamped addressed envelope. Please make sure there is a clear address and telephone number so that last minute changes can be communicated efficiently.

Applications to :- Somerset Education Officer -

Caroline Butter, The Old Manse, Wells Rd. , Draycott, Cheddar, Somerset BS27 3SF

also educationofficer@ somersetbeekeepers.org.uk 01934 742075

Lecturers' CVs

Dr James E Tew has been working with honey-bees for more than thirty-six years. He is a professor in the Department of Entomology at the Ohio State University , where he has taught classes, written publications, developed video programmes, conducted research, and interacted with the public. He recently retired from the Ohio State University and has accepted a position with Auburn University in Auburn , Alabama , where he will conduct extension and outreach programmes and address honey bee issues through onsite visits and social media outlets.  He plans to remain in Ohio and continue to work cooperatively with the Ohio State University through his Emeritus status. 

Dr Tew is a long-time monthly contributor to Bee Culture magazine having written articles on most common bee topics. He has travelled widely exploring his beekeeping interest in behavioural and managerial aspects of beekeeping.

Gay Marriss

  I gained my first degree (Zoology honours first class) in 1984, from the University of Dundee , where I subsequently completed a Ph.D. and Post Doctoral Fellowship, both based on the biology and behaviour of parasitic wasps. I joined Fera (then the Central Science Laboratory) in 1991, where I have since held a variety of roles. The majority of my time has been spent as a practical research scientist, with particular interests in Hymenopteran physiology. However, I have also served as a training coordinator for the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate, and a Project Manager for Environmental Risk Assessment and International Development projects, respectively. I joined the National Bee Unit in 2008. My current post is as a Senior Scientific Officer (job title - Science Coordinator). My main interests are: non-native pest threats to UK honey bees (I have been involved in a number of formal risk assessemnts for exotic species e.g. Small hive beetle & Asian hornets); economics of insect pollination. I undertake science writing on behalf of the NBU, regularly publishing in BBKA news, WBKA news and BeeCraft. I have in excess of 60 publications including peer-reviewed science articles and book chapters.

Graham Royle NDB

Graham started beekeeping in 1988 and started to study for the BBKA examinations in 1995 when he decided he wanted to know a lot more about the bees he was keeping. His studies resulted in achieving the BBKA Master Beekeeper certificate in 2002 and the National Diploma in Beekeeping in 2004. He was also awarded the Wax Chandler's prize in 2002.

Graham currently manages 20 colonies in four apiaries. His main interests in beekeeping are queen rearing and stock improvement having had some terrible tempered bees in his early years. He is heavily involved with the education of beekeepers at all levels from encouraging beginners to take up the craft, preparing more experienced beekeepers to take the modular exams and assisting candidates for the NDB examination at the advanced beekeeping course held each year at the National Bee Unit. He is also one of the team of five NDB tutors currently delivering NDB short courses as part of the Fera Train the Trainers initiative.

Nicholas L Charlton

Completed my first degree in Biology in 2001 at University College London . Studied at Imperial College London 2006-2007 MSc in Applied Entomology, all about crop pests.From January 2009 to present - PhD into plant-pollinator interactions at the University of Bristol

Between finishing my first degree and studying at Imperial College I worked as a Science teacher in Bristol.I returned to university to pursue a career in research, particularly interested in plant-insect interactions

I have a strong interest in all wildlife and nature, which is a lot easier to see now I live in rural Somerset rather than central London where I grew up

My PhD is specifically interested in the study of pollinator behaviour (mainly bumble bees) within a whole community of plants and other pollinators. Bees are both economically and ecologically important because of their supreme pollination efficiency and large numbers. But also they are extremely interesting to study because of the behaviours they can demonstrate.

2012 AGM

Saturday March 10th at 4.00pm.

SBKA Nomination of Officers 2012- 2013

The AGM of Somerset Beekeepers Association will be held at the Lysaght Club, Cleeve, nr. Minehead on Saturday March 10th at 4.00pm. Officers of the council are elected at that meeting. Each member is free to make a nomination for any post, but the nomination must be made in writing and sent to the secretary – Suzette Perkins, prior to February 1 st 2012. Her email address is bernieperkins.tengor@tiscali.co.uk

In the event that no nominations are received from the general membership, the following nominations will be made to the Council. Further information and detail is available from your divisional secretaries.

All nominations must be made in writing and signed by the nominee and sent to the Secretary by the 1 st February 2012

Somerset Beekeepers Association   Special Lecture 2012

This will be at Hazelgrove School on Wed.25 th April at 7.30pm

Lecturer – Debbie Delanie Assoc. Prof. at Univ. of Delaware will be speaking on  

‘Honey bee Nutrition: Tracking a balanced hive diet.'

Dr Deborah Delaney

I started my higher education career as a Fine Art major. I began drawing and painting insects which led me to drop out of art school and pursue a degree in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Fine Art and Entomology. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources from Oregon State University . I took some time away from school for two years and worked for the U.S. Forest Service on Beetle studies, while, at the same time, expanding my home apiary to about 70 colonies. I interned with commercial queen breeders during my spring months and learned some of the industry such as grafting, how to run mating nucs and make nucs for retail. In the summer of 2000 I started my graduate studies at Oregon State University in Environmental Science. My project looked at the affects of Coumaphos on drone honey bee sperm production and viability. In 2003 I started my doctorate in Entomology at Washington State University looking at the genetic diversity of commercial honey bee populations in the United States . My work to date is an extension of my doctoral work with an emphasis on unmanaged honey bee populations. I am also vary interested in the microbial content of honey bee guts and also bee bread and have been conducting exploratory experiments specifically focusing on yeasts.

Seminar summaries:

Honey bee nutrition: Tracking a balanced hive diet:

In this talk I have synthesized a large body of literature produced on honey bee nutrition over the past half a century. I talk about the nutritional requirements of honey bees and what are the best sources of these requirements based on scientific literature. I also talk about plant products that are harmful to bees and the relationship of different quality foods to the glandular productivity and overall survivability of a colony. Finally, I talk about preliminary findings from new research I am conducting in my lab. I talk about the microbial composition of bee bread and how fungicides may be affecting not only the bees primary protein source but also their gut stability and ability to assimilate nutrients.

No charge but donations are requested for the SBKA official charity – Hives Save Lives – Africa .

Let's collect more than 50p per person this year !

There is also a raffle to raise funds for the School apiary.

Hazelgrove School , Sparkford, Yeovil  BA22 7JA

The school entrance is just off the Hazelgrove roundabout at the junction of the A303 and the A359

We look forward to seeing you.

TAUNTON

HONEY SHOW

AND THE COUNTY HONEY SHOW

Vivary Park , Taunton

Friday and Saturday

3th & 4th August 2012

Download a schedule and entry form HERE