The BeeCraft Podcast

BeeCraft magazine co-editors Richard Rickitt and Stephen Fleming with deputy editor Lucy Parkinson talk about the lectures at the National Honey Show, beelining, Lloyds bank bee symbols and a brand new word emerging from a process that should make drones very, very afraid. 

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Contact the editors at [email protected]

BeeCraft magazine co-editors Richard Rickitt and Stephen Fleming consider a busy summer and feature part of a wild bee chase on Scilly as Dr Ollie Visick of Plymouth University shows Jilly Halliday of Scilly and Stephen how to sample wild-living bees from the oddest of places on the archipelago. They found quite a few colonies and witnessed Ollie's ingenious tools of the trade. Analysis of the genetics of these varroa-free bees is now underway and will be covered in future issues of the magazine.

To subscribe to the 48-page, full-colour, monthly magazine (from just £29 per month digital or from £48 print and digital), see www.bee-craft.com/shop-homepage/subscriptions

Our round-up of the August magazine plus Paddy O'Connell's interview with the Archers' beekeeper, the late Patricia Greene, and the current BeeCraft editors. Plus the start of a visit to Scilly to find and sample its wild-living colonies.

On location, checking out a possible drone congregation area (DCA), co-editors Richard and Stephen pick out some favourites from the July issue of BeeCraft magazine and talk about what's coming up in future issues,

The editing team, Richard, Lucy and Stephen, discuss the June issue plus an exclusive interview with Pete Davies, formerly of the National Bee Unit, who has recently returned from yellow-legged hornet nest hunting in New Zealand.

Links mentioned in the podcast:

The William Parkinson Living Laboratory fundraiser:

The B4 symposium on wild living bees

To subscribe to BeeCraft magazine

A low-cost breakthrough in automatically identifying the presence of the invasive yellow-legged hornet at a bait station with no risk of bycatch has been invented by Jon Semple -- hear how it came about and what will happen this season

Who is behind BeeCraft illustrations? Meet beekeeper-artist George Tonge.

Co-editors Richard Rickitt and Stephen Fleming guide you through the May issue of BeeCraft.

In this podcast special from Sao Paulo in Brazil, Kate Graydon of Bristol University tells BeeCraft about her latest research into the wonderful world of Brazil's stingless bees. They can bite, they can heal and some spend their lives thieving from their neighbours.

In the March issue of BeeCraft magazine, Kate surprised readers by showing that honey bee queens lay different sizes of eggs depending on the amount of forage in their area.

The backstory to the April issue of BeeCraft magazine, with co-editors Richard Rickitt and Stephen Fleming.

Video links mentioned in the podcast:

"My Garden of a Thousand Bees" on BBC iPlayer (50 mins)

Skep beekeeping on Luneburg Heath (16 mins)

Another look behind the scenes of another issue of BeeCraft featuring Broodbox contributor Peter Smith and Richard's unfortunate encounter with a goat. 

Co-editors, Richard and Stephen, and the magazine designer, Amanda, talk about the February 2026 issue - plus a cameo appearance from Dafydd Pett, and getting in the way of a famous person at the Constable & Turner exhibition at Tate Britain (which features a skep or three). 

Subscribe to BeeCraft magazine at www.bee-craft.com