SURREY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION To promote and further the craft of beekeeping in the County of Surrey Founded 1879
Croydon	Epsom	Farnham	Guildford	Horsham& C	Kingston	Reigate	Weybridge	Wimbledon

Notice is hereby given of an Extra-ordinary General Meeting of the Surrey Beekeepers' Association. The meeting is to be held at St James' Church, Weybridge, KT13 8DE
on Tuesday, 30th September 2008 at 8pm.

Business to be conducted is the acceptance of a new constitution.

You may wish to remind your members that the new constitution will replace the existing 'Rule Book' which no longer conforms to laws relating to the running of charities.

Would you please strongly urge your members to attend this meeting. It is an important event.

Please find below a downloadable copy of the constitution in common formats suitable for most computers:- Microsoft Word Format (.doc), Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf) and Open Office Text format (.odt)

CLICK PREFERRED IMAGE BELOW TO START DOWNLOAD

With our current status as a Registered Charity and with the changes to the BBKA constitution and types of membership it is time to update our rules. The SBKA council has appointed a sub-comittee which has produced a first draft. This has been discussed sent out to Division comittees for feedback which was due by 21st April 2008. The SBKA council had a special meeting on the 7th of May 2008 to discuss it. The propoaed new constitution is available from the links above and in the members area. Click here for the current SBKA Rules. Members who wish to contribute should have done so through their Divisions committee or SBKA reps. Trustees responsibilities were discussed and some of the other discussion documents are in the members area.

Defra Bee Health Strategy 2008
You may be aware that over recent months DEFRA has been working on a Bee
Health Strategy to set out the way in which DEFRA and the beekeeping
community as a whole will work over the next ten years. BBKA, BFA,
Honey packers, Equipment suppliers, etc have been a party to the
construction of the bee health strategy. It has now been released for a
period of public consultation, until August 29th 2008, and can be found,
along with response forms at:

www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/bee-health/index.htm

Please check this out and feel free to make your comments. Do try to
ensure that as many of your members as possible can see this document or
know where it can be found. It is hoped that printed copies will be
available at the Stoneleigh convention. I will also have some hard
copies for beekeepers who have difficulties accessing the website.

I would also be pleased to hear any comments that you may have. This is
an important document and will shape the future of beekeeping in the future.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Regards

Alan Byham
SE Regional Bee Inspector

B.B.K.A. Annual Delegates Meeting

So, what’s an ADM and what’s it got to do with me? Actually, quite a lot. Each year, the officers of the BBKA and representatives from the 60+ Area Association Members (Surrey BKA is an Area Association) get together to agree BBKA policy and objectives for the following year.

It’s held at Stoneleigh in January and is your chance to influence the way the BBKA represents beekeeping on the national stage and the services they provide to beekeepers. So how does a humble beekeeper make a difference? If you have a good idea or a strong opinion about current BBKA policy, raise it with your division’s representative on the Surrey BKA Council. Your point will be debated at the next Council meeting. Area Associations can submit propositions to the BBKA for debate at the next ADM and the Surrey representative who attends the ADM will be instructed to vote accordingly. Simple!

The meeting takes a full day and is run in a very professional manner to strict ‘standing orders’, ably monitored by our own Mike Somers. Voting is generally by show of hands but, for contentious issues, each Area Association has a vote weighted to the number of members.

There are the usual formalities of any meeting, followed by reports from various committees and working parties. The Surrey Shield, for the county producing the best performance in ‘basic’ examination passes in 2007, went to Hampshire. We aim to get it back this year! A small number of new Area Associations were admitted to BBKA membership. The fun starts after lunch when the meeting debates proposals put forward by Area Associations. Some of these are a bit dry – e.g. suggestions for minor alterations to membership categories, but many are of direct benefit to all beekeepers. Setting up a monitoring system for Small Hive Beetle, encouraging Area Associations to take an active approach to research funding and the proposal to produce a leaflet for beekeepers and the public on the identification of bees found in public places and how to deal with them where some of the propositions passed. The BBKA sought and were granted a mandate to pursue the possibility of hosting Apimondia in 2013.

The next ADM is on 10th January 2009 - plenty of time to get those ideas to your division representative.

Bob Maurer

Surrey wins the BBKA Examinations Board Shield.

For 2006, the BBKA Executive and the Examinations Board started a campaign to encourage more members to participate in its Examination and Assessment Programme. The Basic Assessment is the focus of this campaign and on the strength of the results of the 2006 entries, an award in the form of a shield for Notable Performance has been created. This was awarded to Surrey BKA at the Annual Delegate Meeting held at the National Bee Centre,
Stoneleigh on 13 January 2007. The award was collected on our behalf by Bob Maurer (Reigate BKA) who was also present as our ADM Delegate. The award was made for the County entering 45 candidates for the basic. This is 11% of our current membership. Congratulations to Audrey Gill,our Education Officer and all the entrants. (see BBKA News No161 Nov 2006 for the league table)

The award will be made in future on variable criteria, to give Associations large and small an opportunity to win. Thus the shield might be awarded based on the percentage of an Associations members entered or perhaps total percentage holding the Basic. This approach might favour the smaller
Associations who deserve encouragement as much as the larger. Absolute numbers holding the award also provides a possibility. Can Surrey hold-on to the Shield in 2007?! The Shield will be displayed at various events during the year such as the Bee Day (17 Feb), County Show (28 May)and ADM
(Nov). If your Division would like access to the Shield for an event, please contact Sandra Rickwood, SBKA Secretary.

Congratulations to the 38 beekeepers who passed in 2006. Your cheques are on their way and certificates are being sent by BBKA. This is a record number for Surrey and more than any other association in the country, so well done to you all. Anyone want to do the Intermediate ?

Mr G.M. Elliot Farnham Mr A.J. Welch Farnham Mr T. J. Lovett Kingston Mrs P.J. Bristow Weybridge Mrs M.Cooper Weybridge Mrs. S. Rickwood Weybridge Mr A.W. Johnson Weybridge Mr J.Hudson Weybridge Mr P. Barnes Wimbledon Mr S. Barton Wimbledon Mr R. Wright Wimbledon Mr R.H.Snelling Croydon

Mr P. Fish Weybridge Mrs C. Winterborn Wimbledon Mr M.L.Somers Farnham Michael Evans Kingston Carlos Grattoni Kingston Christopher Jay Kingston Avis Marshall Kingston David Marshall Kingston Marc Mearns Kingston Valerie Pattwell Kingston Jim Harries Kingston Mr T.Stephensmith Croydon

MA. Kirkby Guildford Mr R.J.K. Bradford Reigate P.S.E. Cleaver Reigate Mr T. Moremon Reigate GR. Piejus Reigate Mrs P.E.Sparkes Reigate Mr R.C.Sparkes Reigate Ms. D. Steele Sussex BKA Dr. Tony Clarke Croydon Emily Louise Parker Croydon Harry Parker Croydon Mr A.J. Chew Croydon

And Congratulations to Hazel Sharples of Farnham Division for passing three Modules.

The BBKA Examinations Board offers a range of assessments to suit beekeepers of all levels. The Basic exam tests the minimum level of competence to which all beekeepers should aspire. It is essentially a practical assessment taking about an hour, which involves practical manipulation of a hive and an aural assessment of beekeeping knowledge. There is no written paper. The Assessments are organised at convenient apiary sites.

Due to our success last year and in an attempt to retain the BBKA Exam Board Shield this year we are repeating our efforts to encourage members to study and enter for the BBKA exams. Anyone can do it, even Tim Lovett (Chairman SBKA and BBKA) passed the Basic last summer so it can't be too difficult! There will be a preparation day in June for the exam in July. So tell your Division Sec your intention to enter this year and contact Sandra Rickwood to get you name on the list for July 2007.

After the Basic you can go on to do the practical Husbandry certificate or Intermediate modules that are largely theory.

Details from Audrey Gill SBKA examinations secretary or Sandra Rickwood SBKA secretary
and visit our exams page

Surrey Bee Day 18th February 2006

The following report from Weybridge Division of the "Surrey Bee Day" was written by Andrew Halstead and Tony Johnson and was originally published in their March Newsletter.

Surrey Bee Day

Mollie Bonard (Epsom Chair) looked after the Raffle Table

This very successful convention (all tickets sold), held in Ewell on Saturday 15th February, was centred on 6 lectures by eminent speakers associated with beekeeping or bees. Displays and trade stands were present throughout the day. Andrew Halstead contributed the following reports on the first 3 lectures and Tony Johnson on the last 3.

Bees and the environment, by Celia Davies, Author of "The Honey Bee Inside Out"
Celia gave a talk on the structure of flowers and their relationships with pollinating insects. Some flowers are capable of being self pollinated but many have mechanisms that ensure that cross pollination occurs. The transfer of pollen between plants increases the genetic variation within the plant population and may confer evolutionary advantages. Some apple cultivars are unable to be self pollinated because the pollen grains fail to germinate if they are on the stigma of flowers of the same cultivar. Primrose flowers occur as "pin eye" or "thrum" forms and this ensures that cross pollination occurs between the two forms. In some flowers, such as rose bay willow herb, the stamens and stigma in an individual flower do not develop at the same time. The newly opened flowers produce pollen but by the time the stigma has developed, the anthers in these flowers have withered, thus preventing self pollination. Other plants, such as holly and willows, occur as plants that are either male or female.
Some types of insect were present on Earth before flowering plants (Angiosperms) evolved in the Cretaceous period. Bees and other Hymenoptera evolved more recently, during the Tertiary period. Flower structure has developed as a means of attracting insects as pollinating agents. This is done by flower colour and scent, with some flowers' petals having nectar lines or contrasting colours to guide bees and other insects to the target area for access to the pollen and nectar. The amount and quality of nectar produced by a flower is variable. It is affected by weather conditions, such as wind, rain, humidity and temperature. Other factors include soil type, the age and vigour of the plant, soil moisture, topography and the time of day.
Some flowers have design features that assist pollination by certain types of insect. Nectar is usually secreted at the base of flowers and so the length of the corolla tube may determine whether the flower is visited by long- or short-tongued bees. Some flowers have stamens or stigmas that move and come into contact with the bee when it visits the flower. Honeybees are particularly effective as pollinating insects. Their large colony size and ability to overwinter ensures there are large numbers of honeybees throughout the flowering season. Honeybees are good at communicating information about good nectar/pollen sources to other foragers in the hive. Bees are most strongly attracted to plants providing a good source of nectar and/or pollen, with close spacing between the plants, and which are close to the hive. Nothing beats a field of oil seed rape!

The trouble with viruses, by Brenda Ball, Rothamsted Research
Brenda Ball is a internationally renowned expert on bee viruses, which she has studied for many years at Rothamsted. Viruses are extremely small and can only be seen with a scanning electron microscope. Other means of detecting and identifying viruses rely on recognising the different proteins that make up the outer wall of the virus particle. This can be done with techniques such as gel chromatography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests.
Viruses can only reproduce themselves in living cells of the host organism. Many types of virus have been identified in honeybees. Some can lie dormant without producing any symptoms until some factor, which can be stress in the bee colony, induces the virus to start multiplying. Some bee viruses can be transmitted on the mouthparts of Varroa mites, and in this way viruses affecting the larvae/pupae can be spread to previously healthy adult bees.
Brenda carried out a five-year study of honeybee viruses before Varroa arrived in Britain. Some viruses were found only at certain times of year, others were confined to either the brood or the adults, while others were only found in colonies affected by Nosema. After Varroa arrived in Britain further studies showed there is a relationship between the presence of Varroa and/or viruses and colony survival. Colonies with Varroa, but no virus, can tolerate higher numbers of the mite than those with virus infection. Colonies with virus infection can survive with low numbers of mites, but colonies with virus and higher numbers of mites will die.
Three common bee viruses are cloudy wing virus (CWV), slow paralysis virus (SPV) and deformed wing virus (DWV). Cloudy wing virus is spread when infected adult bees feed the larvae; it is not transmitted by Varroa. There is no particular pattern to the level of infection as the season progresses and this virus is equally common in hives with or without Varroa. Slow paralysis virus infects the larvae and is rapidly fatal, causing symptoms that can be confused with foul brood disease. This virus is often present as latent infections but it is much more virulent in Varroa-infected hives. It is spread by Varroa and the percentage of infected larvae and adult bees increases during the summer as the mite population builds up. Deformed wing virus has become a damaging disease since the arrival of Varroa. Only a small proportion of infected adult bees show the crippled wings symptom but by late summer most of the bees may have DWV. Infected bees have reduced life expectancy and this can cause heavily infected colonies to die during the winter.
To break the cycle of virus infection brought about by Varroa mites, it is necessary to kill the mites. This needs to be done before the end of summer so the colony has time to produce enough healthy adult bees to provide the overwintering population. Brenda recommended earlier Varroa control than most beekeepers are currently doing and that this should be done in late July or early August.

Looking at eggs, By Glynn Davies, President of the BBKA
Glynn gave a talk on bee eggs and the reproductive capabilities of queen bees. A good queen can lay up to 3000 eggs a day at a rate of about two a minute. She needs a rapid conversion of food into eggs in order to maintain this level of fecundity. To maximise reproduction, the queen needs adequate food supplies, comb space for egg-laying and a lack of disturbance by the beekeeper. Assuming a more modest recruitment of 2000 new adult bees a day to a colony in May, this could soon result in a colony strength of 84,000 bees. A single brood box with eleven frames of National combs has a potential 4650 cells for egg-laying. A similar box of Commercial frames has 6500 cells, while a Dadant box has 7950. Some of the cells will be occupied by honey or pollen, and so are unavailable for egg-laying, so it is likely that a single National brood box may be insufficient for a good queen at peak egg-laying time.
A virgin queen mates on the wing outside the hive and will be inseminated by an average of ten drones. This semen is stored in the queen bee's semen pouch where it is mixed and released randomly to fertilise eggs destined to produce worker or queen bees. Worker bees from eggs fertilised by one drone are three quarters related to each other but only one quarter related to workers from eggs fertilized by other drones. When bees swarm, the worker bees in the swarm are not randomly drawn from all the available drone lines in the colony, but are often restricted to the progeny of three or four drones.
Eggs develop in the ovaries of the queen bee. Each of the two ovaries consists of a bundle of tubes or ovarioles in which the eggs form. The developing eggs are separated in the ovarioles by clusters of nurse cells that absorb nutrients and pass them into the eggs. Each ovary has about 250 ovarioles which deliver mature eggs to the oviduct for laying in a sequential manner. If the queen is laying eggs at the rate of two a minute, it will be about 250 minutes before an ovariole needs to release its next mature egg. In order to maintain this level of egg production, the queen requires a high level of nutrition. This is provided by the entourage of worker bees that encircle the queen and feed her with pre-digested food. By varying the amount of food given to the queen, the colony is able to control the rate of growth in bee numbers.

Some of the Reigate Division Delegates

Integrated Pest Management (IPM), to control Varroa, by Alan Byham, Regional Bee Inspector for SE Region.
Alan reminded of us of the importance of IPM in which he stressed the values of open mesh floors and biotechnical measures for Varroa control; the latter included the use of icing sugar (not talcum powder) to dust bees on their frames. Recent research has confirmed the benefits of open mesh floors in controlling Varroa and also in increasing the amount of brood. Queen trapping is very effective and was said to be very simple to do. Even if you haven't pyrethyroid-resistant mites yet, Apistan and Bayvarol should not be used routinely, but kept as back-up methods. Apiguard can be used in February if necessary.

Use of pollen in forensic science, Michael Keith-Lucas, University of Reading
Michael illustrated the range of pollen types and mentioned that spring pollens fit on the hairs of bees. He spoke of honey fraud and unifloral honeys (in which at least 35% of the pollen grains have to be of the named type of honey). Lime honey doesn't contain much lime pollen (15%) as bees don't pick up much of this pollen as it is rather toxic. Lime honey and Mediterranean honeys are generally honey dew honeys, which often contain fungal spores. There may be no pollen grains in honey, as these can be removed by pressure filtration to prevent crystallisation on supermarket shelves; such honeys contain diatoms introduced from the filters. Laevorotatory sugars are present in floral honeys, but if corn syrup has been added fraudulently, such honeys contain dextrorotatory sugars. Fingerprints of the pollen types in a honey can be used to identify its country of origin. The identification of pollen on clothing, or other objects in mud on shoes can be a valuable aid to the police in cases of theft, murder and terrorism. Pollen in the nasal cavity can help identify the time when somebody has died or been buried. Burying a corpse in a wood after murder is not a good idea - if the murderer wishes to avoid being found! This talk was illustrated with many amusing references to actual criminal cases.

Bee Husbandry, by Ivor Davies, Past President of the BBKA
Ivor started his talk by stating that there were some bad beekeepers around. He gave many reminders of good husbandry practices throughout the beekeeping year, including colony inspection (but don't inspect without a reason, as disease can be induced by stress), replacing brood frames every other year, sterilizing tools and clothes, and breeding one's own local queens. He listed the desirable characteristics of a colony as good temper, absence of followers, disease-free state, calmness, freedom from excess propolis, and the ability to produce a good honey crop.

The pre-convention coffee and cakes, the good lunch and the afternoon tea were much enjoyed (all included in the £15 fee for the day). To say the least it was excellent value for money; let us hope for a repeat before too long.

(Thank you to Andrew and Tony for these informative and comprehensive reports, and to Tim Lovett and his team who organised the event. - Ed)

BeeCraft was well represented

Photographs by Pete Ashley

Draft SBKA Proposition for the BBKA ADM

At a recent SBKA Council meeting it was discussed that more BBKA financial information should be readily accessable so as to be able to brief our delagate appropriately to vote on the proposed increase in capitation at the BBKA ADM. So we are drafting a proposition for this years ADM.

"Surrey BKA requests the BBKA to include in the papers sent to ADM delegates the Budget spreadsheet showing the projections for two years ahead and the comparison of the previous year's projection with the outturn together with the comments of the Finance Committee, and to post the same information in the members' area of the BBKA website."

There may be a bit of a problem for the Finance Committee to get the spreadsheet out in time for the circulation of the ADM papers, as I don't know when they meet to finalise it. However I think it is worth putting in the following proposition, and at worst we could accept that it could be sent out in time for the Area Associations to discuss it before the ADM, and put on the Website.