Rosa rugosa 'Fru Dagmar Hastrup'  at Mottisfont Abbey, May 2008.

As seen above, my fascination with bees has been long standing, I can sit and watch them for hours, it doesnt matter what type; honey, bumble, solitary, mason, leaf-cutter, they all have the power to transfix me. Ants have a similar hold on me.  Their industry amazes me, especially when you get to see them working as a colony, they become a super organism, millions of tiny components working with one mind, like the science fiction 'collective' ; 'resistance is futile'.

Last night I attended my penultimate bee-keeping theory class, the time has flown by (haha) and I really have enjoyed getting to know more about and understanding their complex lives. Last night we looked at Pest and Diseases, and Honey Production. Both fascinating for different reasons. We had seen in an earlier class how varroa mite led to the demise of colonies, and tonight we encountered European, and American Foul Brood, and various other bacterial, fungal and viral problems that bee-keepers regularly have to deal with. Some of them are notifiable diseases, others become more prevalent due to bad husbandry, something that was stressed a lot. Don't keep bees if you aren't willing to keep them well. We start our practical classes in April, when hopefully the weather will be warm enough to open up the hives and begin to practise what we have learnt.

As for the honey production, I found the 'Heath-Robinson' approach to most of it charming, although the cost of some of the equipment made me wince; the fact that I am joining not one, but two  local bee-keeping associations, where it is usually possible to loan and share such equipment will hopefully ameliorate some of these costs. Otherwise, my honey is going to be a VERY expensive commodity! With that in mind, I am off to join the Fleet BKA this evening, and hope that by being part of a community of people with similar interests to my own, I can learn and benefit from the expertise all around me.

I was sent this last night, and listened this morning, a program from BBC World Services about Bees and Honey, you might enjoy it too: Honey: The Golden Treasure http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00dcg0t