Here are the more popular and prominent discussion groups. Share your knowledge, seek help, and participate in letting the bees thrive. Here is a cautionary note – be very careful to note the geographical base of the subjects and topics of each forum. What’s good for bees of Africa, Asia, America or Australia may not be right for your neighbourhood hives.

International Beekeeping Forums – Beemaster.com.

Friend of the Bees – Natural Beekeeping Network – Biobees.com.

Beekeepingforum.co.uk

BBKA’s discussion forum – Official BBKA forum

An International beekeeping community – Beekeepingforums.com

Beesource Beekeeping Forums – beesource.com – forums

11 February 2012: Apiary Management – Share And Learn Workshop, Truckhaven Conference Centre, Carnforth, Lancashire

24 and 25 Feb 2012: “Beekeeping in Changing Times” – 68th UBKA Conference, Greenmount, Antrim

3 March 2012: “Not Just Beekeeping“, 16th Annual Seminar of Bucks County Beekeepers Association, Wendover Memorial Hall, Bucks

10 March 2012: “Survival in spite of all odds“, Cambridgeshire Beekeepers’ Association’s 1-day seminar, Chesterton, Cambridge

24 March 2012: Apimondia International Bee Health Symposium, Citywest Hotel, Dublin, Ireland

24 March 2012: WBKA Convention, Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells

31 March 2010: North of England Beekeeping Convention, Great North (Hancock) Museum, Newcastle

20 to 22 April 2012: BBKA Spring Convention, Harper Adams University College Campus, Newport, Shropshire

To find out why insect pollinators – like honeybees, bumblebees and hover flies – are in decline, five organizations together launched the “Insect Pollinators Initiative”. The organizations are the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Natural Environment Research Council, the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust. As many as nine projects are funded through this Initiative. These projects attempt to find answers to several questions that will help in improving our understanding of bees and their ecology.

• Which insects are pollinating our crops?
• Is the fall in bee diversity linked to the fall in wildflowers?
• How are pollinators faring in urban habitats?
• How can we make the countryside better for bumblebees?
• Are British bees getting the right diet?
• How do diseases affect the honeybee, and could they spread to other bee species?
• How do honeybees, honeybee viruses and Varroa destructor interact?
• How can models be used to explore disease movement in pollinators?
• How do pesticides and other chemicals affect bees’ behaviour?

Understand more about these projects from this two part feature “Protecting the pollinators”.

Part 1 – bees and ecology

Part 2 – bees and disease

You can check out reviews and buy the book at Amazon UK.

See this frank review by a Amazon-customer-reader, for example -

“Bees have had a rather bad time of it lately. What with hive deaths, organo-phosphate chemicals, and the industrialisation of the countryside, their numbers were reported as dropping fast. Which is bad news for everybody as bees have a key role in the pollination of plants…and our food crops. Then I picked up this book, and was pleased to see that (mostly young) urban people had taken to keeping bees in cities. Their efforts have raised bee populations in places like London, which explains why bees don’t have to commute nowadays as they service the flower displays in city parks and streets. In gardens and on roofs, hives have been established by this new wave of enthusiast and the bee population has grown. Of course it won’t address the hive death problem, but its good news, and there is precious little of that around. Lets be clear that if you are looking to be a professional bee-keeper you will need more than this book. If you want a detailed treatise about bees in general, then this won’t do. If, on the other hand, you want a well written book about an industrious insect on which we depend, and the people who are trying to help, then this book will be enjoyable, if not uplifting. I read it at one sitting, and am now reading it again. Just like good food, you need to savour it. A bit like honey in fact”.

More resources -

Check out the pages of Basingstoke & District Beekeepers Association and Lincolnshire Beekeepers’ Association. Both sites have plenty of useful material on beekeeping.

Bristol Honey Festival – 3rd and 4th September 2011, University of Bristol Botanic Garden

The Essex Honey Show – 9th September 2011, Barleylands Billericay, Essex.

Thorne’s Windsor Sale – 10th September 2011, Oakley Green, Windsor

Conwy Honey Fair – 13th September 2011, Conwy High Street, North Wales

Bromley and Orpington Honey Show - 17th September 2011, The Grove , West Wickham

Lancashire & North West Beekeepers Association Honey Show - 8th October 2011, Blackburn House, Liverpool

Sussex County Honey Show – 16th October 2011, Bowerhill Village Hall, Bowerhill, Melksham

INIB 10th Annual Conference and Honey Show – 5th November 2011, The Village Centre, Ballynahinch Road, Hillsborough

The Central Association of Beekeepers Social Evening – 28th October 2011, St Georges College, Weybridge, Surrey

The National Honey Show – 27 to 29th October 2011, St. Georges College, Weybridge, Surrey

Natural Beekeeping Weekend Workshop – 29th to 30th October, 2011, Peterculter, Aberdeen

Hampshire Beekeepers Association Annual Convention & Honey Show - 13th November 2011, Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh

Look up a more complete list at Beekeeping Events in the UK.

Says Robin Blake from the University of Reading – “…. there’s been an awful lot of press coverage about the decline of the honey bee and the associated losses for that. But in actual fact the bumblebee is responsible for the pollination of probably quite a few more crops and is far more important than I think a lot of people think.”

In this Planet Earth Podcast, listen to a detailed discussion on actions taken by UK farmers to protect the UK’s declining populations of bumblebees, butterflies and other pollinating insects.

You will also get to hear how scientists go about the task of figuring out the many types of microbes that exist on Earth and why they all matter. Also you will find out why birds are amazing in more ways than humans have realized so far.

If podcasts are not your cup of tea, then read through the full text transcript.

In September, you can attend the weekend beekeeping conference organized by The Midland & South Western Counties Convention. where all local, professional, new or prospective beekeepers are welcome. It is usually a residential conference, but day visitors are also allowed.

Get more details about The Bee Conference to be held at Royal Agricultural College in Cirenceste, from 9 to 11 September 2011.

This year’s National Honey Show is scheduled to be held at St George’s College, Weybridge, Surrey KT15 2QS from 27 to 29 October 2011. This show by The National Honey Show Limited has been continuing for several decades, since 1923, includes International classes and beekeepers’ lecture convention. The show is aimed at setting a high standard in honey shows, by promoting the highest quality honey and wax products of the hive.

If you would like to enter the National Honey Show competitive classes, check out and download the show schedule.

All of the proceeds accruing from the adoption project will be used for research into honey bee health and towards training programmes for professional beekeepers in the UK. The opportunity is unique, the cause worthy, the contribution meaningful, and satisfaction – immense!

For sharing in the world of beekeepers and bees, go ahead and adopt a beehive today to help save the honey bee.

However, no one can dispute the fact that honey bees as a species are quite endangered, and ought to have everyone concerned. Past president of the British Beekeepers’ Association Dr Ivor Davis, who is a master beekeeper has these ten suggestions for you and me to do our bit toward the bees’ wellbeing. See ten things to do to help honey bees.

• If you see a swarm let the local authority or the police know. They will contact a local beekeeper to collect the swarm and look after it.
• If you plant single flowering plants and vegetables, you will be encouraging honeybees looking for variety in pollen to visit your garden.
• Buy only local honey that is pure and does not contain preservatives.
• Write to MPs in support of campaigns to fund research into bee health.

• Spare some space in your garden, contact your local beekeeping association and they will find a beekeeper looking for a site.
• Participate in encouraging local establishments to grow plants and shrubs that are be friendly.
• Always clean and wash empty jars of honey bought from overseas sources so that the bees do not feed on leftover honey and get infected.
• By learning more about this illustrious and nature-friendly insect, you will appreciate their irreplaceable role for the environment.
• Be friendly to bees. They are good neighbours and are actually harmless unless provoked.
• Cultivate a rather useful hobby by learning to become a beekeeper.

Pollen and nectar collected by honey bees is then processed in the hive into food. After digestion, like all creatures, bees too need to get rid of left over, indigestible indigestible matter consisting of all the pollen granules minus their nutritious inner sections. To ‘relieve themselves’, bees leave the hive and let out the pollen remains that look like yellow liquid, whether or not the bees have upset stomachs!

The average beehive produces as much as 45kg of bee dung per year, which end up as deposits around the hive within a radius of 20-30 metres. The deposits are actually manure rich in nitrogen. Eventually, rain helps the bee dung mix into the soil, break down and end up as an excellent natural fertilizer. Can you see the immense extra benefit to a farmer who employs bees for pollinating a crop?