Branch of the Kent Beekeepers Association
Wed 14th November AGM
At our AGM there were two major changes to our officers. Our two longest serving members decided to give the newcomers a go. Secretary Richard Baker handed over the reigns to Joan McAllister and Peter Olreive handed over to Julian Audsley. We thank them both for their long service but look forward to their continuing support to the branch during the coming years.
Wed 9th January Meeting
A very interesting talk was given by Roger Thompson from Thanet on Bumblebees to an audience of 16 at Stelling Minnis. As we know many of the calls during the summer are due not to swarms or honeybees but bumble bees. He has asked Thanet council to send all calls of this nature to him.
There were examples of bumble bee nests and commercial nests, artificial nest boxes and he showed how one design was constructed. He also showed all the equipment that he uses to relocate bumble bees when he’s been unsuccessful in persuading the householder to leave them where they are.
Fortunately in most cases he is successful and spends a lot of time educating young and old to the beauty and interest in these relatively harmless insects. He has also had re-printed the very good leaflet helping the identification of Bumble bees and similar insects which were available at the meeting for just 50p.
There are a number of websites devoted to Bumble bees and I list some of them below.
Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society http://www.bwars.com/
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust http://www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk/
Bumblebee pages L. Smith http://www.bumblebee.org/
British bumblebee identification guide - Natural history Museum
UK Bumblebee Research Directory updated 24 May 2006 http://www.bumblebeeresearch.co.uk/