I don’t know about you but my bees have been nothing but trouble these last few weeks. St Leonards has good forage so starvation has not been a problem but my difficulty has been the number of boxes that have wanted to swarm for a second time. The bees seem to have felt cramped in their brood boxes after splits were done; no doubt in part due to their difficulty in drawing wax given the lowish temperatures we have had recently. Every box has now built queen cells. My biggest challenge has been one box of extremely prolific bees ( I got from another beekeeper) where varroa had been allowed to build up. I decided to do a split but leaving the queen on the old site with just foundation (I knew this queen needed a fresh start). This just didn’t work as I had planned, however, as the temperatures just weren’t elevated enough and with the supers above the bees just didn’t bother to work Mr Kembles nice foundation. I eventually gave them drawn comb and the Queen laid into that. But now for the second time they have built queen cells and so I have just banked her in an apidea mating hive with a cupful of bees. Bees are so frustrating at times! The parent hive was another story. Over a period of two weeks a carpet of dead bees has built up in front of the hive as diseased bees crawled out of the hive. They had wings but couldn’t take off and a stream of them seemed to be making their way daily down the garden. I knew it would be risky getting a viable queen cell so took out an insurance policy of two frames of brood with over 10 queen cells. I left them all in the nuc I took away from the parent hive. From that insurance policy I got one nice looking queen. In the parent hive I left one queen cell. Just as well I had my insurance policy as the queen cell I left in the parent hive, when checked, contained a dead larva. So I was able to put back my insurance policy. However what had been a big box of bees is now a smallish unit. The three supers they had laden with honey have now had to be given to other hives as there aren’t enough of them to look after it or to cap it! My queen will take another week to come into lay and as I have a lot of units I have added a frame of sacrificial larvae. Phoretic varroa mites will hopefully dive into this as there is no other brood and in a weeks time I shall remove this frame and burn it. Let’s hope this gives my new queen a fresh start. I have a similar scenario at my out apiary with the box of bees I allowed to expand into a double 14*12 brood box for queen rearing. Lots of bees equates to lots of varroa and lots of varroa means lots of viruses getting a hold. I have created a real management headache for myself! I don’t know about you but varroa seems to be a big problem this year. Yet again this is proving to be a year like no other and my prediction is that many of you will struggle with varroa in your hives earlier than normal so you will need to monitor carefully what the daily mite drop is. We have bee safaris organised for the end of June and those who will come will be in for a treat. Look out for the session on treatments. In my opinion this is the most important session. Get that right and the bees are far more likely to survive the winter. Get it wrong and hives can collapse in March.

Malcolm Wilkie – July 2024

2024 will undoubtedly be a challenging year for all of us.

At the present time the season looks as if it is going to be an extremely early one. On the association’s WhatsApp group Rob Gore has said that he already has sealed drone brood in hives. Jo Groom says she has never had such large colonies at this time of year. In my own garden Darwin tulips that are meant to flower from mid April are now currently blooming, and it is the 21st of March! So if you have a large colony, expect swarming to start mid April.

At the moment you have an opportunity to swap out old frames, adding foundation in its place and as there are so many young bees eager to make wax that will be drawn out no problem. Doing this may also hold back swarming for a while. And of course if you do that the likelihood of getting tasty June honey increases.

Our program of events is on the website and everyone should take a look month by month what is being offered. Go to the website, click on the menu, scroll down to events and you can see month by month what is going on. This is a fantastic resource and everyone should take a look. All the timings and locations are there. We encourage you to book but are well aware people are busy and no one will be turned away if they just turn up. As long as they are a member of course!

 People are putting out hornet traps and they should be regularly monitored. Let’s hope this year not too many of us find ourselves dealing with this invasive top predator. Wishing you every success in getting a good Spring honey crop.

Malcolm Wilkie – April 2024

As Chairman in 2022 to 2023 I have run improver sessions for members of the Association. There has been good attendance and on average about 15 people came to those sessions that were organised. Timings were correct and there was a swarming session before swarming took place, there was a session on treatments before treatments needed to be done, and Keith ran a session on preparing hives for winter before all the wet weather arrived. There was also the opportunity for people to attend a half day on disease run by Dave Rudland of East Surrey Bees.

The Honey show was well attended (I badgered a lot of you to enter Honey) and there was a lot of discussion about the Asian hornet. This is going to be a challenge for each and everyone of us in the next two or three years. We also had the microscopes to look at and if that interests you, look out for a session that will be organised by Peter and Paul in the Spring. Next year we revert to a beginners’ course, but it will be a hybrid course and for most sessions beginners will have to join in with activities that will be organised for all of you members.

As I feel Asian hornets to be the main priority a workshop will be run in February to build a trap. Every Asian hornet Queen in February that is caught will prevent countless beehives being targeted in July, August and September.

The High Weald is one of the divisions of the Sussex Beekeeping Association. This year we are hosting their AGM and Dan Morgan, who is our seasonal bee inspector, will be talking about Asian Hornets and tracing the Asian hornet nest that was found in Eastbourne. I am hoping a fair number of members from different divisions will attend and lead to a healthy debate about trapping and tracing. You will be able to enter a hornet trap and there will be prize money (probably about £50). As we are hosting, this AGM will take place at Five Ashes village hall. It’s on March 2nd. Sign up if you have not already done so. It’s on our patch, so easy to get to.

Finally keep all those 2 L bottles to make traps in February at our workshop. You can then immediately hang them up. I look forward to seeing lots of you at that session. I can’t help feeling that everyone of you that does not put out a trap will inadvertently and unwittingly be causing a problem for everyone else. So, if you can’t come in February make sure you find out from others what to do.

I wish you all a successful Beekeeping season and may your bees give you lots of pleasure and lbs and lbs of honey.

Malcolm Wilkie – January 2024

Chair’s AGM Report 2021

This is essentially an overview of 2021 for the HWBKA picking out some of the highlights … and lowlights. More detail can be found in each of the committee members reports which you also have received.

Starting with the ‘lowlights’ we are obviously still being impacted by COVID although not as severely as in 2020 when almost everything stopped.

On more positive notes the Association continues strongly with 247 members, only one down on last year.

Finances are still strong with a healthy balance of ≈£21k although this would have been even greater had we been able to run the course last year in 2020. It is still our hope and intention to be able to fund an Apiary with a permanent Club House and we are slowly building funds to accomplish that.

Despite the BBKA increasing their charges last year, when we had to absorb the cost as we could not do anything about it until the following AGM, we have decided again to maintain our current level of subscriptions and absorb that cost increase once more. Most of your dues do go to the BBKA and for BDI as can see in Peter Halford’s and Rob’s reports. It was for this reason that we changed our rules and constitution to enable us to increase dues by whatever the BBKA impose should we need to, without having to wait for the following years AGM to pass a resolution or hold an EGM.

At the beginning of 2021 it was not at all certain we would be able to run the Beginner’s Course. It represents a major revenue for the Association both financially and in terms of new members. In anticipation of future difficulties, we setup an education sub-committee, an objective for which would be the generation of a comprehensive course manual, and this was completed during the bleak mid-winter and early spring.  Armed with this document we felt that in the worst case we might be able to run the course on a one-to-one basis or in much smaller groups depending on prevailing lockdown criteria at the time. This would of course require a greater number of tutors who may well need the manual for reference. In the event the first 2 classroom-based sessions were held on Zoom and the initial ‘in-the-field’ events one to one with the very much increased number of tutors in their own apiaries. Our tutors did sterling work, and we are very appreciative of their efforts on behalf of the beginners. This all worked well and then in July we recommenced group events. The manual will stand us in good stead for the future and all new beekeepers on the course get a copy to keep so they get our association’s view and are not too confused by all the sometimes-conflicting advice they might get in books and on-line

We held the Taster Day this year in June at my apiary and had a most enjoyable day with 11 participants, including Peter Halford and Talha Dinc who came long to help.

Following on from a laudable initiative from Malcolm 2 years earlier to encourage people through their Basic Assessment, we finally managed to hold the assessment, again in my apiary to better facilitate necessary teas, coffees, brandies etc. 5 people, 4 from HWBKA and one who came up from Hastings and Rother took part. Mike Cullen, a Master Beekeeper from Hastings took us through quite gently. My guilt at not doing it earlier in my beekeeping career finally got the better of me and I too took the test of ‘beekeeping manhood’.

In terms of other events held throughout year they have been quite severely curtailed. Committee Meetings have been held on Zoom as Peter Leswell has had to maintain a strict isolation regime. There were no country fayres we could attend. BeeBanter was off the menu until it re-commenced in the latter half of the year. Attendance at BeeBanters has been somewhat down compared to the past, no doubt because of people’s legitimate concerns over either getting infected or spreading infection. Last month Talha managed to organise a very successful wax workshop which Helen Hadley led, and Sandy Infield hosted in her spacious studio. On the 8^th December he has organised our annual Christmas Dinner at the Middle House in Mayfield. We hope you will be able to attend.

Our Association Apiaries are in mostly good fettle, although it has been a tricky year for many beekeepers as indicated in Keith & Steve’s report about Slab Castle. We heard in Jonathan Coote’s Apiarist article about the winter losses. We had a warm February causing the colonies to build quickly and early, followed by a colder dry spell and then a colder wet spell and some colonies never really got up to speed. My own honey crop as with the Associations was less than half the usual.   

Nonetheless Slab Castle is going into the winter with 10 colonies and much work has been done over the year maintaining it and the equipment.

Our lease from WDC for the Horsted Green Apiary was increased to 12 colonies in exchange for which they wanted our assistance with promotion, and you may have seen articles in Ashdown Living Sussex Country Living. I took over from Steve running the Apiary mid-way through the year as the combination of running Slab Castle and Horsted with all the travel that entailed was getting too much. Steve was very largely responsible for setting up the splendid facilities at Horsted for which we owe him a debt of gratitude. There was a very successful queen rearing activity held at Horsted and led by Helen Hadley and Malcolm. We used a particularly vigorous colony of nice gentle bees and produced some 30 or so queens which were given out to various members. We plan to hold something similar next year with more emphasis on teaching the craft. We will also be raising 10 nucs of bees with the very generous assistance of John Miller, to supply future new beekeepers on the course. A small part we can play in reducing the need to import bees from abroad along with whatever plague they might bring in with them.

As mentioned above, it is an awful lot of work running the association apiaries and we hope next year to be able to enlist some permanent or semi-permanent assisting teams to help share the burden and perhaps as a teaching experience too for those less experienced, to learn from the likes of Steve and Keith. There will be a form sent out and at the AGM for those who would like to express interest.

The Apiarist is going out quarterly ‘jam packed’ thanks to the sterling work of Paul with his expertise in DTP

AHAT - fortunately there has been very little activity on the Asian Hornet front, due in no small part to the continuing vigilance of beekeepers nationwide and of course FERA.

The website continues to support our activities and membership very well. The advent of booking forms for events and the eR2 system making life much easier for our Membership Secretary Peter …although it is still a great deal of work he does behind the scenes to keep our Association running smoothly.

SBKA has been quiet and similarly impacted by CV-19 and holding meetings on Zoom. There was no Bee Market this year but the Autumn Convention which was a hybrid live /Zoom meeting had some interesting talks particularly from the folks at Buckfast Abbey.

Having overstayed my statutory three term year as Chair by one year in extremis to get through the COVID crisis this has been my last year …honest!

It’s been fun, an honour and a privilege. I will still be around, however, looking after the little darlings at our Horsted Apiary.

Chair's Report 2019 - 2020

Another year, another AGM. 2019 has been my second and penultimate year as Chairman of the High Weald Beekeepers’ Association.

As ever, I’m indebted to our dedicated Committee and membership who selflessly give of their time and energy in support of bees, beekeeping, and your Association.

Most of you will have seen my Chairman’s report sent out before the AGM, but just to recap a little:

In summary the AGM and Honey Show went well again with a good attendance.

The association continues strongly with membership now over 200.

Finances are very strong with our current bank balance just shy of £20k. Dues remain unchanged for 2019/20, but it is proposed they be increased for 20/21 by £2.00, and we are still one of the lowest cost divisions in the area. This will help us improve facilities for the membership and to build a fighting fund to support future plans for a new apiary.

The training programmes have been very successful again, providing 19 new beekeepers. We held a Taster Day again which was a great success. In addition, we are about to commence a programme of training for the BBKA Basic Assessment.

Although the popularity of apiary visits has been waning for many years now, there has been a very full programme of other activities and themed visits including the usual shows such as the Honey Market at Heathfield School, the Crowborough Fair and Langton Green Fair etc. generating revenue for beekeepers and the Association, and more importantly generating interest in bees and beekeeping.

The association apiary at Slab Castle is in splendid fettle and now has much needed new equipment including new National Hives, a BeeHaus, new suits and a new 6 frame radial extractor for the use of the membership. Steve Davies is now gearing up to support our new apiary at Horsted Green Park.

The website continues to provide useful support for our activities and membership, and the addition of booking forms for events such as talks etc. greatly facilitates our organisation of events. Emails are now sent out via the BDI eR2 system rather than using BCC. This had previously resulted in some email getting blocked by email systems thinking they were spam.

The newly re-vamped Apiarist provides a valuable communication channel for those who aren’t cyber surfers. It is going out quarterly, with many interesting articles

We have an AHAT (Asian Hornet Action Team). Having now seen these beasties in action during our French liaison meeting in Normandy this year, it’s just as well too. There have been some very interesting talks this year about Asian Hornets, from Bob Hogg, a Jersey beekeeper, and most recently from Kay Wreford our RBI at the SBKA Autumn Convention. Suffice to say it behoves us all to be on our toes and contact Helen Searle our AHAT coordinator immediately should we see any suspicious sightings.

The HWBKA had dramatic success at the National Honey Show this year with numerous prizes.

You may recall reading in the last edition of the Apiarist, about our travails over our new apiary site at the Uckfield SANG (Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace) site, now known as Horsted Green Park. The good news is that things are proceeding, and we plan to put bees up there in the spring. The prospect of having our own building there is most probably still a long way off although we will have use of the WDC barn there.  Hence, we will continue the search for other more central locations where it is more likely we’ll be able to put up a building. The surprise event for me was that the committee had decided to present me with a present for my efforts in this enterprise, ‘The Book of Honey’ by Eva Crane ….and very good it is too .. thankyou!

All the above, and more, was reported on at the AGM using the usual PowerPoint presentation.

At the election that followed this part of the agenda several changes to the committee were made. Our constitution dictates that certain roles rotate every 3 years and some other long-standing committee members also finally decided they needed a break. So, it’s with regret, appreciation and deep gratitude we say  farewell but not goodbye to Brian Hopper as President, Rosie Riley as Events Secretary, Amanda Savage as committee member and Sam Bowles as Apiarist editor, and hello to Peter Leswell (President – see elsewhere for Peter’s hello statement for those who don’t know him that well),  Fiona Henniker our new Hon. Sec., Rob Gore our new Hon. Treasurer, Paul Lindstrom our new Apiarist editor and Talha Dinc as committee member. Steve remains on the committee and Peter Halford continues as Membership secretary – see below:-

Committee Role	Previously	Now
President (3 years)	Brian Hopper (X)	Peter Leswell
Chairman (3 years)	Peter Coxon	Peter Coxon
Hon. Sec. (3 years)	Peter Halford  (X)	Fiona Henniker
Hon.Treas. (3 years)	Steve Adams  (X)	Rob Gore
Apiarist Editor	Sam Bowles (X)	Paul Lindstrom
Apiary Manager	Keith Obbard	Keith Obbard
Assistant A.M.	Steve Davies	Steve Davies
Events Sec.	Rosie Riley (X)	Helen Searle
Membership Sec.	Peter Halford	Peter Halford
Train. & Ed. Mgr	Malcolm Wilkie	Malcolm Wilkie
Members	Amanda Savage (X)	Steve Adams
	Helen Searle	Talha Dinc

Rather unusually we also had an invited talk from a local MP Huw Merriman who gave us a very interesting insight into the All-Party Group on Bees & Pollinators. It was edifying to learn a little more about the power of lobbying and how it works in our parliamentary system.

Finally, we had the customary prize giving from the Honey Show

Peter Coxon – the.hwbka+chair@gmail.com

Chair – HWBKA