Creating a buzz as Whitby Beekeepers celebrate 150th milestone
Whitby Beekeepers’ Association has recently taken part in celebrating 150 years of the British Beekeepers Association.
The beekeeping charity operates like many such groups with a local team – Whitby BKA with 75 members; a county group – Yorkshire BKA 2,200 members; and the national governing body British BKA which has up to 30,000 members.
During 2024, we are celebrating 150 years.
Many things have changed significantly over the years with new inventions and new items of equipment, but what has remained constant are the bees and the ways they progress from small colonies over the winter, rising in large numbers as the seasons unfold and the forage becomes available, producing, in most years, a surplus of honey for the beekeeper to harvest honey towards the end of the summer season.
To mark the significant milestone, a special meeting was arranged at a members’ bee yard or apiary followed by a wonderful afternoon tea and lots of opportunity for the members to socialise and exchange their own beekeeping experiences.
The current President of British Beekeepers, Stephen Barnes, attended with his wife and presented Whitby’s Tim Heald and Tony Jefferson with their own 50 years long service award.
2024 has been a challenge due to the prolonged wet spring period.
We rely heavily on our local farmers to progress with their crops but the prolonged wet weather and soaking ground conditions served to push all available forage to the late summer period.
Spring flowers such as oil seed rape did not yield well, the hawthorn came out in bloom and was washed off within days, silage and haymaking activities were delayed resulting in very late clover flowers to be available.
The improvement in the weather in late July into August has been kind to the bees, with bell and the later ling heather flowering during spells of good weather.
Being a beekeeper means we all watch the weather and the local farming practices with great interest.
Whitby Beekeepers is an active group that arranges evening meetings during the out of season period, moving to outdoor apiary meetings from the springtime onwards.
The apiary meetings are held at various members’ locations and give an opportunity to experience the varying approaches that beekeepers have to manage their colonies of bees. Further details at the Whitby Beekeepers website.