Author Archives: Paul

ONBG meeting, March 2023 – new year, new lessons

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Paul

Twenty people convened at Gilliane’s to share thoughts on bees, and rather a lot of food. A recurring theme was winter mortality and factors affecting this: weather, hive design and climate change. Greeting and eating Food is a marvellous social … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Experimentation, Hives, Meetings, ONBG, TBH, Warré | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Winter projects

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Paul

This blogsite has been a little quiet recently because contributors have been beavering away on various projects bearing fruit elsewhere. Andrew has written a book! Beekeeping Simplified with the Drayton Hive is available from Northern Bee Books The Drayton Hive … Continue reading →

Posted in Newspaper articles, Pests, Publications | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

ONBG Meeting, October 2022 – 10th anniversary gathering

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Paul

On a mild autumnal day, 14 happy beekeepers attended our 10th birthday gathering – yes, Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group has now been around for a decade! This could only mean one thing – lots of cake! Oh and bees. Highlights … Continue reading →

Posted in Honey, Meetings, ONBG, Stings, Warré | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

ONBG meeting, June 2022 – Unlearning beekeeping

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Paul

25 folk gathered at Gareth’s rural apiary to listen and learn from his 50 years’ experience and experimentation. We were honoured to be joined by Filipe Salbany (of Blenheim Woods fame) with a different set of 50 years’ experience, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Ecology, Hives, Log hive, Meetings, ONBG, Skeps, Sun Hive, Swarms, TBH, Warré | Tagged | 2 Comments

ONBG meeting, May 2022 – A Swarmy Bee Tea at Dee

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Paul

Jane’s fabulous apiary at Dee Cottage isn’t just the prettiest cottage garden in Oxford, it also features several really unusual hives: an alveary, cathedral hive, freedom hive and also a couple of more standard TBHs. The agenda was to inspect … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Hives, Inspections, Meetings, ONBG, Swarms, TBH | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Sideboard Bees

Posted on May 11, 2022 by Paul

~ By our Norfolk correspondent, Jan ~ Many of you know that I volunteered to be a swarm collector a few seasons ago: I’m not fearful of the bees and thought if I could help save some – before a … Continue reading →

Posted in Hives, Members | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

ONBG meeting April 2022 – swarm prep

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Paul

18 bee-folk gathered at Paul’s out-apiary to discuss catching and hiving swarms, inspect TBHs and picnic and gabble about bees. Other topics were winter losses, the 2023 Learning from the Bees conference and mushrooms.

Posted in Apiary visits, Hives, Inspections, Meetings, ONBG, TBH | Tagged , | Leave a comment