A Bit of a Do

Truro School - 18th September 2010

A Bit of a Do will be taking place at Truro School on Saturday 18th September with refreshments available from 9.30 am for a 10 am start. Our keynote speaker is Norman Carreck from the University of Sussex and other speakers include Rodger Dewhurst and Jo Widdicombe.

To download a copy of a map of the school campus showing where BOAD will be taking place click here.

LATEST NEWS: Download the programme here and listen to Norman being interviewed on the BBC in July about hygienic bees at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00t4qm6


Speakers
Norman Carreck has been keeping bees since the age of 15. He read Agricultural Science at Nottingham University and joined Rothamsted Research in 1987 as an agronomist working on nutrient uptake in cereal crops. Between 1991 and 2006 he was apiculturalist in the Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division, with responsibility for maintaining about 80 colonies of honey bees. He was also fully involved in the two research groups, on pollination ecology with Prof. Ingrid Williams and Dr Juliet Osborne; and bee pathology with Brenda Ball. He obtained the National Diploma in Beekeeping in 1996, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society in 2004. He is a member of the Technical Committee of the British Beekeepers Association, a Committee Member of the Central Association of Bee-Keepers, a Trustee of the C.B. Dennis Beekeepers Research Trust, Secretary of the Examinations Board of the National Diploma in Beekeeping, a member of the Science and Evidence Advisory Committee for the Defra Healthy Bees Plan and a UK member of the Management Committee of the international honey bee colony losses network "COLOSS".
Jo Widdicombe has lived in Cornwall for over 30 years. He worked in agriculture (organic vegetable production and dairy) before returning to his studies. He graduated from Plymouth Polytechnic with B.Sc.(Hons) Environmental Science and has been running own business (shop selling greengrocery, wholefoods, flowers, plants etc.) with his wife since 1980. A beekeeper for over 25 years, currently running about 50 hives and a member of BIBBA for over 20 years. He was Secretary of Cornwall BKA for 9 years and Chairman of the Southwest Group of Bee Farmers Association for 2 years. He believes that progress in bee breeding in Britain and Ireland is only likely to come from determined groups of beekeepers working together.
Rodger Dewhurst has been a member of West Cornwall Beekeepers for many years. He started beekeeping in 1972 when he bought his first hive at auction at the age of 12. He was a co-founder of the Cornwall Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Group, and in 2008 was awarded the Josef Stark award for services to beekeeping by SICAMM, the European group dedicated to preserving the European native bee. His painstaking observations of our local bees’ ability to remove varroa from colonies has been recognised by European bee breeders. He is breeding bees for resistance to Varroa, largely by grooming themselves and one another and biting the mites, and is interpreting their behavioural response to Varroa in terms of adaptation of normal behaviour patterns. Along with his wife Carol he runs Gwenen Apiaries a small business selling honey, candles, bees and hive products.

Apart from lectures there will workshops and trade stands.

Morphometry

The section on Morphometry will describe how it is possible to determine the strain of your bees from their wing patterns and you are invited to bring samples of your own bees for testing during the practical sessions. Members of the BBKA will be able to find out more about morphometry from the June issue of BBKA news.

Whilst different strains can be identified by a mixture of size, colour, hair length and tongue length the most effective differences are in the veins in the wings. In bee morphometric analysis wing samples are photographed and the images analysed by computer software to determine the genetic make up of individual bees. We are particularly interested in what people may consider a good native type bee, but are also happy to put samples through of any sort if only to show that we get meaningful results. For example if you want to slip in a sample of Carniolan or New Zealand, we are happy to give it a try. We are learning too and if it helps us distinguish the difference it will prove its value.

We will need samples of 15 to 30 bees, put in deep freeze for at least 24 hours, then thawed out and allowed to dry (a sunny window is good) and then stored in something breathable such as a paper bag. Sources of samples should be clearly labelled so it is known where they come from, although we do not need to know what strain they are supposed to be. Obvious mongrels or mixed strains (which are most of our bees) will not be as interesting as purer strains of bee.

For further Information you might wish to look at

http://www.beeworks.com/morphometry/index.html

http://www.bibba.com/

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/morphometry.html

http://www.culturaapicola.com.ar/apuntes/revistaselectronicas/apidologie/37-1/M6009.pdf

Tickets

The event is expected to be fully subscribed, so you are advised to order your tickets in advance. Tickets are available at £5 each in advance and £7 on the door.

A pasty lunch may be purchased from the school refectory, or you are welcome to bring a packed lunch. Refreshments will be available in the breaks for a donation. The school has ample parking and directions will be sent to you along with your tickets.

To obtain your tickets please complete the form available to download here and send it, along with your cheque made payable to “West Cornwall Bee Keepers Association”, and a stamped addressed envelope to Bernie Doeser at the address provided on the form.

The event in 2009 was subsidised by the local beekeeping associations and so we were able to provide free entry. In 2010 with a larger venue and with higher costs we have had to charge a small sum for attendance, but we hope you agree with us that the cost represents excellent value for money.

Provisional Schedule



Time	Choices 1	Choices 2
9.30 - 10 am	Registration & Coffee
10 - 11 am	Norman Carreck – “Using Intracolony Selection to Breed Hygienic Bees.” (*1)
11 - 11.30 am	Break
11.30 - 12 noon	Rodger Dewhurst – Hygienic Behaviour	Jo Widdicombe - BIPCO
12 - 12.30 pm	NBU – Exotics update (Hive Beetle & Tropilaelaps)
12.30 - 1 pm (L)	Jo Widdicombe – Morphometry	Beginners Basics
1 - 1.30 pm (L)	Morphometry Practical	Beginners Basics
1.30 - 2 pm (L)	Morphometry Practical	Beginners Basics
2 - 3.15 pm	Norman Carreck – “Is the Honey Bee Native to the British Isles?" (*2)
3.15 - 3.45 pm	Break
3.45 - 4.45 pm	Debate – Native Queens vs Imported Queens
4.45 - 5 pm	Closing Remarks


(*1) Sponsored by National Bee Supplies	(*2) Sponsored by Thornes

Beginners Basics

There will be three main topics covered by "Beginners Basics".

Bee Space - What are Top and Bottom bee space, problems with spacing frames, what happens when spacing is wrong.

Polystyrene Hives - an introduction.

Boards, excluders and escapes - what are the different types and why you would use them.

For more information about the venue click here

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content last modified July 20th 2010