The BBKA need your opinion about your BBKA News magazine. Do you enjoy picking up a printed copy as it drops through your door and relaxing in a chair to read it, or if you would prefer to receive it on your computer/laptop so that you can enjoy it wherever you are, let us know. You can even opt to receive both versions of the magazine if you wish.

Here is a link to allow you to fill in a questionnaire about the BBKANEWS online;

BBKA NEWS Online Survey

or you can send in a printed copy by downloading the form or by filling in the paper copy in January’s  BBKANEWS and returning it to:

Freepost BRITISH BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION

Please note this address label is sufficient and nothing else should be written on the envelope.

There are several other questions about the content, balance and style that the BBKA would value your response about. We need your opinions to help deliver the magazine you would like to receive.

The BBKA are leaving the survey open until end February so we encourage you to take part.

Asian Hornet Week 2020 7-13 September
We are asking everyone to be vigilant in looking out for this alien species, the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina. This hornet could decimate our pollinators including our honey bees, it is important to have everyone actively looking for it.

Follow the BBKA on social media and share the Asian hornet week posts to help raise awareness

https://twitter.com/britishbee

https://www.facebook.com/TheBritishBeekeepersAssociation/

https://www.instagram.com/britishbeekeepers/

Autumn is the time for trapping as wasps and hornets lose their sources of floral nectar and find hives full of honey very attractive. We are asking beekeepers to put an hour aside every day to watch for hornets hawking their hives during Asian Hornet Week.

Effect on Biodiversity
From the Invasive Species Compendium

Hornets are well known for their attacks on other hymenopteran species, especially honey bees. Studies by Muller et al. (2010, 2013) in France demonstrate that V. velutina preys on a range of insects and the carcasses of mammals and birds.

The prey spectrum consisted of 59% hymenopteran species [of which bees (Apidae) represented over 35%], 32% dipterans, and 9% others (orders Hemiptera, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, Mecoptera, Trichopetra, Coleoptera, Heteroptera, Neuroptera, Dermaptera, and Blattaria).

Resources
This is a link to a PDF for an Asian Hornet banner we designed in the office and have used at the Asian hornet conference in 2020. This is shown on the right.

This is the PDF file of the latest banner used

You can use the pdf to have your own banner printed by downloading it to your computer and then uploading it to this website. Banners are in the region of £30/40 pounds -

https://www.solopress.com/roller-banners/ (other websites are available!)

We have also attached the latest Asian hornet poster from the Government which you can display anywhere you think might be useful in your locality (local shops/ allotment site / work notice boards).

Asian hornet ID poster

How to report an Asian hornet
If you suspect you have seen an Asian hornet you should report this using the ‘Asian Hornet Watch’ app:

Asian Hornet Watch app for iPhone
Asian Hornet Watch app for android
You can also report sightings by email: alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk. Please include information on location, date and number of Asian hornets you have seen. Please also include a photo if you can to help our experts identify the insect.

Alternatively, you can fill out an online report form

Reporting Asian Hornet Sightings

Please fill out the details in the form – Non-native Species Alert – at the link, in each of the three sections, before clicking on the Save button at the bottom of the last section.

https://www.brc.ac.uk/risc/alert.php?species=asian_hornet

The first of our Member evening winter meetings of 2020 will be on Friday 17 January 2020, starting at 7.30pm, at East Challow Village Hall.

For those new to the association or who haven’t been there before – the full address is Main Street (A417), East Challow, Wantage OX12 9SR. The village hall is on the right hand side as you come down the hill in East Challow from Wantage, and there is parking in the car park at the hall.

We have invited Derek Mitchell back for a return visit. Some of you may remember Derek from his talk at a winter meeting a few years ago where he gave a fascinating insight in to the results of his research in to the thermodynamics of the hive (he is a physicist by training, and uses his wife’s hives for his research!).

The subject of his talk this year is “The invisible world of honey bees or How bees beat beavers at dam building”, and we look forward to seeing you there.