Willie Robson runs between 1500 and 2000 hives as a family business in Northumberland, the most northerly county in England. This is a challenging environment, with high rainfall and cold winters, often with weeks of snow. He uses only native "black" bees, which have adapted to the climate and - according to Willie - to his management methods, which are of necessity based on a relatively low-interference protocol.
This recording was made in Cornwall on 6th February 2016, where Willie was giving a talk about his beekeeping methods and sharing his 53 years of experience with an audience of black bee enthusiasts.
The sound quality on this recording is not the best, as the edge of a hurricane was causing a fair amount of background noise.
Willie's web site is http://www.chainbridgehoney.co.uk
 
 
 
 
 
 

Willie Robson: 53 years among the bees

Phil Chandler, teacher and author of 'The Barefoot Beekeeper', talks about 'balanced beekeeping' and explains why he believes we need to change both the way we grow our food and the way we work with honeybees if we want them - and ourselves - to survive and thrive.

Beekeeping has been all about honey production. Now we need to learn to value bees for their own sake - for their part in nature as pollinators of many plant species, both wild and cultivated. 

The Barefoot Beekeeper is available in print or as an ebook from www.biobees.com

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The Asian Yellow-Legged Hornet - Vespa velutina - has rampaged through France and for the last three years has occupied Jersey in the Channel Islands, threatening to invade mainland Britain using any means possible. Several nests were found and destroyed in 2019 near the south coast of England, but we cannot be certain that others went unnoticed. This insect presents a clear and present danger to honeybees especially, with beekeepers in France losing about one in three of their hives every year to this pest. It will also cause big problems for other bees and other insects, as it has a voracious appetite and a talent for hunting down its prey. Beekeepers will be very much on the front line in the battle to keep V. velutina out of this country, as we are likely to be the first to spot it. Do familiarise yourselves with its appearance and behaviour, and educate others so that we stand the best chance of intercepting it before it becomes established. Visit http://ahat.org.uk for some excellent photos, which will help you distinguish it from similar-looking insects. If you can spare some time, join your local AHAT and learn how to trap and track it to its nest. (For some reason, the AHAT link has been sending to the wrong site. it should go to ahat.org.uk )

Asian Hornets Threaten Britain

We were on the Bovey Heathfield Nature Reserve, near Bovey Tracey in Devon, looking for Heath Potter Wasps with the noted naturalist John Walters, so I took the opportunity to record a short interview... Brigit's new book, Dancing with Bees, is published by Chelsea Green and available from http://beestrawbridge.blogspot.com  

On Bovey Heath with Brigit Strawbridge Howard

Ragna invited me to Norway to talk to beekeepers about the possibility of using different ways to look after bees, and different hives, including, of course, the top bar hive.  I had a very enjoyable week in this beautiful country, thanks to my hosts Ragna Jorgensen and Joshua, who will feature in the next podcast, once I have finished editing our long discussion in the car, while driving around the stunning north western coastline of Norway. This recording was made in the woods outside Oslo, and I made the mistake of leaving my phone switched on (and receiving a swarm call) so please excuse the occasional radio frequency interference that this caused in my audio recorder.   

Beekeeping in Norway - a chat with Ragna Jorgensen of Bybi

The Asian Yellow-Legged Hornet, Vespa velutina, is a serious threat to bees and beekeeping in Britain, given its predatory nature and the fact that a large nest may contain 10-12,000 hungry insects.  It also poses a secondary threat to birds and bats, as it has the ability to consume massive numbers of their prey, while themselves being virtually immune from attack by any of our native species.  PLEASE LEARN ABOUT THIS DANGEROUS PEST and look out for news about it, preferably by checking the news page on https://friendsofthebees.org and don't rely on newspapers, which regularly feature pictures of the wrong species. There is an Android app called "Asian Hornet Watch" that makes identification and reporting easy: this is an invasive non-native species that must be reported to http://www.brc.ac.uk/risc/alert.php?species=asian_hornet    If you use FaceBook, look for my page "Defending Britain Against the Asian Hornet" for news and updates.    

Bob Hogge from Jersey talks about the invading Asian hornet

I hosted this discussion with about 25 other beekeepers at the Eden Project in Cornwall as part of the BIBBA SW Conference Febriary 16 2019.    

Willie Robson: 53 years among the bees

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