News
PDBKA Annual Honey Show, Buriton Village Hall 14th August 2019
The Association’s Annual Honey Show is just over a month away! If, like me, you are in process of removing honey supers and spinning honey, think of entries to the show:
Do you have a well-filled, well-capped frame that could shine in Members Class 10 – ‘one shallow frame of comb honey ready for extraction’
Do you have frames that could produce cut comb to enter classes 9 or 14
Do you have honey, perhaps of different colours, that could enter any one (or all!) of Members Classes 1 -7 & 12-13 or Open Classes A -K & R?
The Association can find frame-cases and jars if you are new to the art of honey-show entry.Give it a go, if you follow the schedule (PDBKA 78th Honey Show Schedule Buriton 2019) and keep your entries spotlessly clean you could win a prize or even a trophy!
New Beekeepers Training 2019
The New Beekeepers theory sessions are over, now it is ‘hands-on’ at the Association Apiary. The Apiary reopened for business on Sunday 7 April. We meet every Sunday at 2pm unless a cancellation is posted before noon on the Sunday in question, here on the website. We provide suits, gloves, tools. You have to arrive with boots suitable for dipping in strong disinfectant.
For more information please e-mail petersfieldbees@gmail.com
Asian Hornet
This is an Asian Hornet. It is smaller than our native European hornet. It is mainly black with a yellow band towards the end of its abdomen, and most importantly yellow legs. It is a threat to honey bee hives, and probably bumblebees and other pollinators, and it should not be here.
If you see one please take a photo and phone us on
07531 901767
A BeeBase video of the construction of a simple Asian hornet trap can be found on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6MUekAjMo Strangely the BeeBase website only shows the more complicated version 1.
Unsung Hero award 2018
In 2017 we took great pleasure in awarding our new Unsung Hero award to Greg for his sterling work as our Swarm Collection co-ordinator, among other important things.
In 2018 we were equally pleased to present the award to Morag Crawley for her many years service to the association. Morag has served as Hon. Secretary, President, Newsletter Editor, as part of our training team and as relief to Greg on the ‘swarm line’.
The Tresallier trophy for the Unsung Hero
Petersfield member and artist Guy Basgshaw, before moving himself and his bees to France, offered PDBKA a trophy to be awarded to a person or persons who have consistently contributed towards the craft of beekeeping and or the support of beekeepers in PDBKA; always in a manner very much out of the limelight.
Accompanying the trophy Guy sent this description and explanation of its name
“The hallmarked sterling silver hive tool was modelled in Privett and cast in Basingstoke. It is of an individual design – to sit easily in the hand, facilitate the separation of hive lifts and then both easing out and spacing individual frames.
The Tresalier grape (note the different spelling) is an old fashioned variety specific to our locality here in Allier. The winds are categorised within those of the Loire vignoble, this being the lowest edge. When we wanted to register a kennel name and not wanting a dog to be called after a grape we used a play on the French words Tres – very – and Allier – to come up with Tresallier. I like the idea of a trophy name with a story”