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Note that this is a fairly long letter with a number of varied topics relating to the hornet. I have italicised the various headings in the letter, and point out that the final item is describing the new method of monitoring. I hope that this will help and encourage you to read it all.

National news

The numbers of YLH insect and nest sightings being confirmed weekly by APHA and communicated to YLH coordinators continues to rise rapidly week on weekAs of 28th August, there have been 342 credible YLH sightings, and 86 confirmed nests. The newest nests discovered have been in:

London: Ilford, Barkingside

Kent: Stonecrouch, Ashford, Exted, Wingham, Thanington, Lenham, Wittersham

Surrey: Holmbury St. Mary

East Sussex: Udimore, Fouroaks,

The first nest has been confirmed in Cork, Rep. of Ireland.

42025 Already has the highest number of sightings and nests and the “crunch” weeks of sexual gyne production are likely happening now and for only a few weeks more.

This week (w/c 1st September) is Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Week, there is a lot of activity planned for both beekeepers and the general public

NBU Update:

There will be an update from Peter Davies, Operational Delivery Lead and an APHA Science Blog will be released during the week.

Zoom Talk by Andrew Durham:

Yellow-legged Asian Hornet – Is Nest Destruction a Dangerous Delusion? Is Spring Trapping the Lesser of Two Evils? – Wednesday 3rd September 7.30pm

Andrew is a Cambridgeshire beekeeper who started his research into the yellow-legged Hornet in 2014, travelling around France and researching the impact of the hornet on French beekeeping.

The talk: as the hornet continues to make ground on the continent and is threatening to get established in mainland UK, this is an important and timely contribution to a debate that beekeepers are going to have to have before the NBU withdraws from the front-line battle to eradicate the hornet. Beekeepers on the continent are getting drawn into the general fight against the hornet and are being overwhelmed. Andrew examines the pros and cons of the different schemes in operation in France (and Jersey) and he suggests how beekeepers could best use their limited resources to serve their bees.

Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83766798003?pwd=MAKwGQjDdNspbbx6Rurhi3fHKr1vBI.1

Meeting ID: 837 6679 8003 Passcode: 886868

The talk will be recorded and made available on the BBKA YouTube channel.

Yellow Sock Day, Friday September 5th:

The idea behind ‘Yellow Sock Day’ is to wear yellow socks to emphasize ‘yellow legs’ as a key identifier of Yellow-legged Asian Hornet. The BBKA want to help build public engagement, improve identification and raise awareness in a fun way. Please take a photo of yourself wearing yellow socks and share it on social media tagging the BBKA: #BBKA and #YellowLeggedHornets BBKA Trustee, Luke Whyatt, (and some Accompanying YLH coordinators you may recognise) will also be visiting various London landmarks on Monday 1st September wearing the Yellow- legged Asian Hornet costume to help raise public awareness.

Surrey County News.

You will have seen from the list above that Surrey now has its first nest in 2025. I am relieved that it was found 3 days after being reported and was destroyed within the week. It will be some months before the analysis confirms if the nest was mature enough to have released sexually mature hornets.

What concerns me more is the apparent isolation of Holmbury St. Mary relative to where we thought the “front line” was, with no obvious adjacency to a transport route or hub. This means we need to further increase our efforts to both raise awareness of identification and reporting amongst the public AND do more monitoring.

Let’s use Asian hornet week (1-7 Sept) to encourage every Surrey resident to be our eyes looking for hornets, YOU can help raise awareness by

• taking an active and visible part in Asian Hornet Week by following and reposting @britishbeekeepers posts regarding Yellow-legged Hornets on social media.

• wearing knee high yellow socks or wellies on Friday the 5th of September, which will be “Yellow Socks Day”

Create your own social media posts, share BBKA or your own association posts focusing on

• how to recognise Yellow-legged Hornets from other insects
  
• how to report them using the Asian Hornet Watch Free App. See it! Snap it! App it!

• The need to check vehicles and luggage for unwanted stowaways when travelling home from Continental Europe, the Channel Islands or the South and South East coasts of England.

Our new approach to monitoring is less “bait hungry” than previously. The NBU now advise to put wick monitoring pots / open bait trays out for 2 – 3 days so that Hornets find them, then only put them out for up to an hour and watch them while they are out.

This takes advantage of the hornet’s tendency to fly foraging circuits, so once they have found your bait they will return if they are in the area. However, as we keep taking them in when we can’t actively observe them, we will not use up as much bait as we have in previous years.

The important thing is to have a broad spread across a whole division’s area – so please if you can help, please talk to your YLH coordinator and join the monitoring programme. We will all feel a lot calmer heaving a sigh of relief in October, when we have found nothing more.

Once again, if you have not done so already- please download the Asian hornet watch app and encourage everyone you know to do so as well. The NBU will not attend unless or until they have a photograph to support a report, so it is best that we are all prepared to jump to the correct action as soon as we think we see an invading hornet.

LAST BIG Show for Public Awareness Raising

Finally- early date for your diary. We have space for more YLH awareness raising activity at The Ardingly Autumn Show.

• When? Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th of September

• Time? Chose a slot 9am – 1:30pm: 11 – 3:30pm; 2 – 6:30pm

• Where? Ardingly Show ground, Haywards Heath RH17 6TL

You get free parking and entry to the show so it’s a great way of enjoying 5 hours or so at the show for “spending” 4 hours talking about YLH in the Honey Pavillion to the public and meeting beekeepers from across Kent and Sussex.

Please contact Helen on YLHlead@epsombeekeepers.co.uk to agree the slot(s) you can cover.

More details below.

Helen Worwood (Surrey YLHT Co-ordinator)

Help run Yellow-legged Hornet awareness stand at South of England Showground, Ardingly

Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th September

The South of England Autumn Show is rapidly approaching. A great weekend (Sat 27th and Sun 28th September) to enjoy and variety of countryside sports, displays, and “have a go” activities, all aimed at celebrating the joys of rural life and equestrian pursuits. The Show features a non-stop programme of agricultural and equestrian displays, country pursuits, live entertainment, rural crafts and an abundance of food, drink and shopping opportunities.

Surrey YLHT have secured a stand in the pavilion alongside he South of England honey show to raise awareness of the Yellow-legged Hornet. Croydon and Reigate beekeepers will lead on organising our presence at the event (tables, banners etc) but are appealing for additional volunteers from across Surrey to talk to the public about the risks the hornet presents and to hand out flyers

The show is open 9am to 6:30pm each day. If you have a few hours free that day we would particularly like help covering the following shifts

9am – 1:30am: (Set up on day1) and shift 1

11:00am – 3:30pm shift 2

2:0pm – 6:30pm shift 3 (Pack away on last day)

If you are free, please email YLHlead@epsombeekeepers.co.uk indicating which dates (Sat 27th or Sun 28th) and shift(s) you can cover.

Helping out gets you a free pass to the show and parking in the free “helpers” carpark. You are, of course, free to fully enjoy the show when not on shift at our stall.

I look forward to meeting many of you there.

Monitoring for the Presence of Yellow Legged (Asian) Hornet

A Surrey Beekeepers Association Initiative – Summer 2025

Working together to keep Surrey free of this Invasive Predator

The Yellow-Legged Hornet (YLH, Vespa velutina nigrithorax), sometimes referred to as the Asian hornet, is not yet established in the UK. However, recent credible sightings in Kent, Sussex,

Hampshire — and now Surrey — show the threat is very close. The National Bee Unit (NBU) can only investigate credible reports, which must include a clear photograph of the suspect insect. It is vital that we can all recognise the Yellow Legged hornet and report sightings quickly.

Your help could make the difference in keeping Surrey free from this invasive predator.

The simplest and safest tool to use is a home-made wick bait station as this gives you the opportunity to monitor the insect(s) and to take pictures. The wick pot does not trap insects and so there is no insect by-catch to release.

Hornets fly circuits repeatedly returning to the same food source so once they have found your wick pot they will return, this behaviour enables us to take photos – just be patient for the hornet to return. The equipment required to make a bait station is very straight forward: a jam jar with its lid, a disposable kitchen cloth, and the bait liquid.

Editor’s note: This is not a ‘trap’, i.e. it will not ‘catch’ a hornet. Its purpose is to see if there are hornets in your area.

To make your own wick pot.

1. Prepare the Jar and Lid

Make a hole in the lid of the jar. The hole should be under 1cm diameter.

To make the hole, use a pointed item such as a countersink/chamfer drill bit, position it in the middle of the lid and tap it using a hammer, shape is not important. To protect your fingers, flatten any sharp metal edges on the inside using the hammer.

2. Prepare the Kitchen Cloth Roll a piece of kitchen cloth into a tube and fit it through the hole in the lid. It needs to be snug and extend to reach both the bottom of jar and 2 –3cm out of the lid.

3. Add the Bait Liquid to the Bait Station

Fill the jar with wasp bait to a depth of about 3cm. Shake the jar so the cloth is fully wet with the bait liquid. Wasp bait can be purchased at garden stores or obtained from your Beekeeping Association.

Put the wick pot outside

Leave the wick pot where you can easily see it.

Action to take if a YLH comes to feed

You can approach close to the bait station with little risk as the insects are very focused on feeding but do not poke them and try to can easily see it from a window, ideally in a sunny position. Consider putting it undercover as rain will dilute the bait. Initially it may take 2 –3 days for the hornets to find it during a circuit flight. Once they have found it you only need to put it outside for about an hour while you can monitor it.

You may find that visiting wasps and European hornets nibble the cloth and shorten it. If you allow a longer length inside the jar, then you can pull more cloth upwards through the lid instead of having to replace the whole cloth.

The bait will get used up after a few hours. To conserve it, only put the wick pot out when you can monitor it, at other times put it away avoid standing in their line of flight.

Take a photograph of the insect – zoom in as close as your camera allows. Key features to see and photograph are yellow legs and yellow abdominal segment.

Use the Asian Hornet Watch App to report your sighting. Download the app and follow the in app instructions to give location and don’t forget to attach the photograph!

Pictures and locations are essential information for the sighting to be treated as credible.

Surrey Beekeepers long-term YLH Monitoring Plan

Our aim is to keep the YLH from becoming established in Surrey. To support the NBU eradication plan we need lots of monitoring across the whole of Surrey. Our long-term goal is one wick pot per km². Every volunteer helps us get closer to county wide coverage.

We need as many volunteers as possible to become involved in monitoring in bursts of 1 week between spring and autumn, driven by sightings and prevailing weather conditions.

To get involved contact

NAME of local YLH lead:

EMAIL of YLH Lead:

with the following information:

1. The location that you can monitor a wick pot, preferably a what3words reference or a postcode

Your agreement to use your email address in our recording app

Your mobile number for a WhatsApp group for monitoring questions and support.

Tiny transmitters on Asian Hornets a game-changer

I am picking up that many are aware of this new device. For those who have not heard about it, the following is a quotation from a report accessible via Google:

‘Tracy Wilson, from the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA), called the new trackers “game- changers” in their work and said the speed at which nests could now be found would mean resources were freed up to find more nests. Dan Etheridge, from the National Bee Unit, has been experimenting with the transmitters in the UK over the past week.

“We’ve already used six tags and we’ve found six nests, so it’s going to speed things up dramatically for what we do in the field,” he said. ’You can access the report by feeding into Google asian hornet tracker

Thanks to those who have made us aware of this device.

As a Trustee of the BBKA and Chair of the Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Committee, I want to take a moment to acknowledge both the growing challenge we face and the incredible response we’ve seen from beekeepers and the wider community.

This year, we have recorded more confirmed sightings and nests of Vespa velutina – the Yellow- legged Asian hornet – than at any previous point. It is a sobering milestone that underlines the seriousness of the threat we are dealing with. The Yellow-legged Asian hornet is a highly effective predator of honey bees and other pollinators. Its presence poses a genuine and growing threat not only to our colonies, but to biodiversity, agriculture, and public well-being.

However, despite the concerning rise in activity, I remain personally optimistic. We have the tools, knowledge, and determination to slow the spread and minimise the impact of this invasive species – but it will require continued vigilance and collaboration.

The attached document provides a summary of results from the NBU’s spring trapping programme following analysis. I would encourage branches in these areas to extend their monitoring work where possible.

One of our most powerful defences remains public awareness. The work beekeepers and local associations have done in recent years to educate the public, report sightings, and support monitoring efforts has been extraordinary. Your efforts have directly led to the discovery and destruction of nests, and you are a vital line of defence in this fight.

Let me be clear: this is not just a beekeeper issue. The Yellow-legged Asian hornet is a wider environmental and economic threat, and all stakeholders – from landowners and farmers to local councils and the general public – have a role to play.

I urge all beekeepers and BBKA members to continue engaging with their communities, sharing the signs t o look out for, and promoting reporting through the Asian Hornet Watch app and other channels. There is a wealth of material available to support you – from posters and leaflets to online webinars and local training events.

I am pleased to report that the BBKA trustees have approved a budget of £12,000 for a further poster campaign on the back of buses. This advertising in Kent and surrounding areas will run during September and follows the success of a similar campaign two years ago.

Together, through vigilance, education, and swift action, we can still make a real and lasting impact. Please do not hesitate to contact the office if you need any additional support at anytime: outreach.officer@bbka.org.uk

With appreciation and resolve,

Luke Whyatt

Trustee and Chair, Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Committee

Words of thanks and encouragement like this are always appreciated.

We had an interesting call in which a member said that the bees would not go through the queen excluder into the super. I have to say that this is a very unusual event. The bees normally move into the super with no trouble.

We gave some off-the-cuff suggestions which hopefully were of help, but as usual thought about the problem afterwards and now offer some more comments.

It is always hard to get a full picture of a situation in a brief conversation, and there is often not enough ‘thinking time’ in a phone call.

The brood box was described as ‘full’ with a queen excluder above it. We may well mean different things from each other by ‘full’.

1. Were all the cells full with either brood or honey so that the queen had nowhere to lay?

If this were the case, I would have expected the bees to have started to move into the super or be making swarming preparations (queen cells).

If the brood box was indeed really ‘full’ as defined above, a second brood box should be added at this stage to prevent an almost certain swarm, or the queen excluder could be removed and placed above the super to convert that super into a second brood box.

Or were there empty cells even though there were plenty of bees in the brood box? In this case I would let them move into the super in their own good time.

If the brood box is not ‘full’, it would not be a very good idea to place the queen excluder above the super to make it a half-brood, because the queen would probably go into it, and make her unnecessarily more difficult to find should you need to in the future. Also, the super (half brood) would end up containing brood as well as honey which couldn’t be harvested unless the box was placed above the queen excluder again later, so that the brood would hatch and the honey could then be taken – complicated – and the frame would have to be discarded, not stored over winter for future use as wax moths find any comb that has had brood in it.

I would welcome any input to this topic for all of our benefit and interest.

Geoff Cooper

In the July newsletter, Geoff Cooper noted that the hot and dry weather was causing the main summer nectar plants to flower soon after the spring flow, thus eliminating the ‘June gap’. On 9th July, I saw worker bees evicting drones from a hive in Brookwood. This is normally something that happens in August and is further evidence of the unusual weather pattern in 2025 speeding up the typical milestones in the beekeeping year.

Andrew Halstead

Thank you, Andrew, for this very interesting observation. I did see some drones in the one hive I went through today (1st August), so they have not all been evicted yet.

Another warning of robbing at the end of the honey flow

In response to your editorial about the end of the flow and bees robbing:

We have been taking fully capped or nearly fully capped frames from supers as necessary, and replacing them with empty drawn comb or wet comb after spinning, to make sure the bees have enough space to store all the honey that they were producing through May and June. The plan was that we will take the main honey crop in the first couple of weeks of August.

Yesterday (5th July) while putting wet comb back into the colonies, the large plastic bags that we carry the supers around in was surrounded by bees, which has not been a problem up until now. We also noticed that 2 of the smaller colonies appeared to be attracting the attention of robber bees. This is new behaviour for this year, so I would agree with you that it appears that the flow has stopped, the bees have changed their behaviour, and it’s going to be a long summer between now and getting ready for winter and winter feeding. So, I fear that there is likely to be a much smaller summer honey crop than we had hoped for.

David Ramsay

Thank you, David, for this report of the bees’ activity. They are good at telling us to be aware of the signs of robbing, and this was the way they did it for you.

Several of our members have reported concern about suspected EFB in some of their colonies in the last few weeks, and these concerns were brought to the attention of our Seasonal Bee Inspector,

Stewart Westsmith, who sent samples for lab testing to the National Bee Unit in York. Thankfully the results for these so far have all been negative. On p. 9 our chairman has suggested a possible cause for the suspicious-looking larvae. Carefully note Andrew’s suggestion regarding these larvae which had been suspected of having EFB. Also, do be sure to read the note, also on p. 9, from our member Katie Shapley in which she points out the value of sharing in our WhatsApp (Communities) group information of suspicious larvae (or indeed any other odd things that we see in our hives), especially when a notifiable disease like EFB is suspected. As this condition has been noted by several of our members, it would be interesting to all of us and to Stewart to know how widespread this condition is, so please let me know if you have experienced it and I will report the total number in next month’s Newsletter.

Our feelings that the summer honey flow has ended, as mentioned in last months’ newsletter, have been confirmed, wasps are around the hives and some members have already seen drones being evicted so we need to ensure that our colonies have all had their entrances reduced. Extra care must be taken not to drop bits of comb containing honey in our apiaries too (which we should never do at any time anyway) to prevent the onset of a serious bout of robbing. A reminder: when taking off the honey crop, do leave enough stores for the bees – at least some hives still have large numbers of bees in them and in most areas, there is now very little nectar around for them to collect and use.

Is it EFB?

This summer, several Weybridge members have seen bee larvae with an unhealthy appearance, and EFB was suspected. This includes a hive in the division’s teaching apiary. Thankfully, these incidents turned out to be false alarms. The hive at the teaching apiary had been queenless for some time and there were probably not enough young worker bees to provide sufficient food for the larvae, causing some to die of starvation.

Beekeepers should always be on the lookout for larvae with an abnormal appearance. Healthy larvae are white with segmented bodies and they lie flat at the bottom of the cells. Larvae that are discoloured and are slumped in the cells require further investigation. If possible, take some close-up photographs of the suspect larvae. These can be sent to the Seasonal Bee Inspector. The Inspector can then assess whether a site visit is required. If it is European Foulbrood, the Inspector will place a standstill order on the apiary. This means nothing can be taken out of the apiary until the notice has been lifted. The Inspector will deal with the infected hive(s) and assess the value of destroyed hive parts for your Bee Diseases Insurance claim. Make sure you are covered for all the colonies you have during the summer, including nuc colonies and colony splits. If you have four colonies but are only covered for three, the insurance payout will be reduced.

Our Seasonal Bee Inspector is Stewart Westsmith. He can be contacted by phone on 07769 933172 and by email stewart.westsmith@apha.gov.uk His contact details are also given in the Contacts list at the end of each Weybridge Beekeepers monthly newsletter.

Andrew Halstead

Thank you, Andrew, for your suggested reason for the presence of the unhealthy appearance of the larvae. This information, I suspect, is not common knowledge among beekeepers.

It’s another reminder to be on the look-out for suspicious things in our colonies – and to ensure that we are insured with Bee Diseases Insurance (BDI); this comes as part of our annual subscription.

Nineteen members attended this event when our Chairman, Andrew Halstead, cut the gold ribbon that

was intended to be bright and honey-coloured, but which, on unrolling at the site, turned out to be

transparent and almost invisible on the container to which it was tied! (See photo below). Andrew

made a short speech and the shop doors were opened for the first time, revealing the initial stock of

basic beekeeping equipment. Andrew emphasised the importance of making use of the shop in order

to maintain its presence, and reminded us that the details of its stock can be found on the Weybridge

Division website. The opening was followed by an informal lunch to which all of those present had

made a contribution. The shop then revealed its second important function: the bringing together of

the members when they can share their ideas, experiences and problems with one another. This initial

interaction continued for an hour or so after lunch with no one in any hurry to go home.

So, don’t forget to make use of your new shop. All the necessary instructions for making purchases

are on our website. Our thanks for this shop go to the members who organised the shelving, etc. and

particularly to Jonathan Kernan who stocked it. It is intended to increase the stock in response to

demand. This is a new venture for us so if you feel able to help in any way, do contact a member of

the Committee.

Geoff Cooper

EDITOR’S CORNER

Two questions raised at the recent opening of our new bee supplies shop

I was asked the following questions by one of our members while we were enjoying lunch at the

opening of the new shop. I have tried to reproduce the questions verbatim, but if they are seriously in

error, I am sure that the member will send in the appropriate corrections.

1. 2. Have you made errors in your beekeeping?

What is the most important thing that a beekeeper should do?

I had no problem answering question 1. With, ”Yes!”

However, having thought a few moments about how to answer question 2, during which many

important and vital aspects of a beekeeper’s work flashed through my mind, I had to say that I could

not give just a single answer.

I gave thought to the question for several days after this, and I now feel that the most important thing

that a beekeeper must be able to do is to be sure to be able to identify the brood diseases, AFB and

EFB, or at least be suspicious of it if anything ‘not quite right’ is seen in the brood of a colony. I think

that the brood diseases are so serious, especially if not recognised, that any beekeeper who fails to

notice it is very seriously failing not only their own bees, but also those of other beekeepers in the

area because these diseases spread very rapidly and result in the destruction of colonies found with

AFB, and very often for EFB as well. But some may say, if you have never seen it, how can you

know what it looks like? In view of the many information sources that we now have, including the

NBU BeeBase, the BBKA website and MANY books and articles in the bee press, any who take this

view could well be told that perhaps they should review their suitability for continuing keeping bees.

5There is no shame in having the brood diseases in our hives, this is almost always beyond our control

– the shame is in not finding it, and not dealing with it in the correct manner by immediately reducing

the size of the hive entrance and contacting our local Bee Inspector whose details are given with all

of our other contacts at the end of every Newsletter.

Latest on my carelessly lost queen (see last month’s newsletter)

Looks as if the queen cell I left has failed; there are numerous reports of disappointments with queen

cells this year. The original queen (that I lost, then found with bees under the mesh floor and re-

installed in her hive) is doing very well. I shall report on any future news, otherwise this is the last

bulletin.

Take a walk on the wildside to see some of Britain’s solitary bee species and other associated insects. Bee suits not required. The venue is Puttenham Common, which is outside our normal area but has the advantage of a large free car park and plenty of ragwort and heather flowers to attract bees. 

The venue is the Top Car Park (do not go to other car parks on the Common), off Suffield Lane, south of Puttenham village, GU3 1BE; What3words hazelnuts.title.year. There is usually a coffee stall in the car park, which will be the meeting point. No toilets. Bring refreshments for a social gathering after the meeting. 

If you are attending this meeting, you must let me know by emailing ahalstead44@btinternet.com If the weather forecast for Saturday is not good, the meeting will be postponed until the following day. If there is a large attendance it may be necessary to split the attendees into manageable sized groups for the guided tour. 

Andrew Halstead 

This should be an unusual meeting of great interest, where we shall be introduced to bees other than our own with which they are said by some to be in competition – or are they? 

For details of how to order please see the Newsletter.

I first heard of this about 40 years ago as a method of Swarm Control. For some reason that has disappeared in the mists of my memory, I did not find it very successful. However, recently I have heard a number of beekeepers, new and old, quoting Demaree, so thought I had better re-acquaint myself with it, as some of what I have heard did not seem to tally with my faint recollections from the past. I found an excellent article by G.D. Morse in the Encyclopaedia of beekeeping (Roger Morse and Ted Hooper), but there are several others. My (hopefully) easy to follow presentation of this method follows: 

• Move the brood box to one side 
• Take a second empty brood box and put it in the position of the original brood box 
• Find the queen and place her, on her frame, preferably with some eggs and unsealed brood in the second brood box 
• Fill the queens’ box with frames containing foundation 
• Put a queen excluder on the box containing the queen 
• Place one or two supers on the queen excluder 
• Place a second queen excluder on the top super 
• Place the original brood box complete with the rest of the brood onto the second queen excluder, and add a frame to restore the full number of frames 
• Destroy all of the queen cells in the top brood box 
• After a week, check again and destroy any queen cells (if this is not done the colony may swarm) 
• After another three weeks, the brood will have hatched out, and the box will act as a super 

It should be noted that there are many variations on this procedure, some of which seem to me to be not very easy to follow. A disadvantage of the method is that the hive can become very tall, and so the lifting of a heavy brood box through an uncomfortable height is involved, especially if it eventually becomes full of honey. 

Some beekeepers use Demaree, with some modifications, to raise queen cells and hence new queens. 

I must emphasise that this article is not intended to recommend or discourage the use of this manipulation. I just wanted to share some of my thoughts and knowledge of it. 

Organised by the Croydon Division of the Surrey Beekeepers’ Association, the event was well attended, with an estimated 80 to 100 of us eagerly listening in. Before I go any further, I should emphasize that this report is neither peer-reviewed nor entirely accurate—just the enthusiastic recollections of a keen beekeeper who understood about 50% of the presentation but enjoyed the cakes and networking 100%! 

Following a lively introduction of the speaker, the audience settled in, relieved to have arrived at the correct venue (though I must admit, if not for the postcode, the rest of the address confused Google Maps more than it helped). One perk of the beekeeping community? It made me feel relatively young—even at 56! That said, we do need more beekeepers in their 20s and 30s. 

Norman’s main argument is that native bees—those indigenous to a specific geographical region rather than introduced by humans—tend to be more disease-resistant than imported ones. Two key graphs supported this claim: 

A study across 16 regions in Europe where 18 different bee strains were monitored over five years without varroa treatment. The survival rate was around 20% for native bees, compared to just 10% for non-native ones. 

A series of UK heatmaps from 2007 to 2021 showing shifting “hot zones” of disease outbreaks. The culprit is likely to be the importation of queens and colonies from abroad. 

While the natural spread of bees is limited by the distance drones can fly, a fascinating experiment on the Isles of Scilly demonstrated that, when lured by queen pheromones (and assisted by the wind), drones can travel farther than previously thought. 

One reason bee imports are increasing is that we’re not rearing enough queens domestically. Requeening hives is common practice, but in the UK, unpredictable weather often sabotages queen rearing. Norman joked that there are four reasons we struggle to raise queens: weather, weather, weather, and weather! When a newly raised queen is ready to mate, a cold spell or rain can ruin the entire process. It’s much easier (and more profitable) to rear queens in France, Spain, or Romania. 

Interestingly, statistics show that bee imports declined slightly post-Brexit—one rare silver lining of that self-inflicted arm! However, it turns out many imported bees now enter Britain via Ireland and Northern Ireland, bypassing direct restrictions. 

Not everyone agrees that preserving native bees is crucial. Personally, I do not feel like becoming an activist for the cause. Some argue that bees evolve naturally over time and that economic realities must be considered—after all, 900 professional beekeepers depend on imports to sustain their businesses. (Franck’s note) 

A prime example is the Buckfast bee, which isn’t native but is widely praised. Developed by Brother Adam in the early 20th century (in response to the Isle of Wight disease), Buckfast bees remain commercially popular today. However, Norman pointed out that despite claims of a consistent lineage, Buckfast bees now vary significantly in appearance and genetics. 

The Q&A session featured some highly technical discussions, much of which went over my head. Wanting to make Weybridge proud, I managed to ask a question—even if the only thing I have in common with Norman is that I started beekeeping 40 years ago! 

One thing I don’t share with Norman, however, is his enthusiasm for laser pointers. While his use of it was effective, I found myself getting dizzy watching the red dot dart across the slides like a fly trapped behind a window. 

Eventually, we moved on to networking, where the conversations were engaging, and the cakes were absolutely amazing (all for a small donation). I wish you had been there!  

Franck Crosnier