Summer surely is "I'cumen In" at last, and the meadows and verges are thick with meadowsweet.  St Swithin's Day, 15th Jluly, came and went without a drop of rain.   "St Swithin's Day an it be fair, for forty days t'will rain nae mair".   We'll see about that I guess.  Meanwhile, the nectar pours in. Remember to put a couple of your very best super frames of honey in a safe place for the Honey Show.

This year we have had quite a spate of courses for the Branch, all greeted with enthusiasm I am pleased to say. That spate is still in full flow, amazingly, with Tony Wright lining up some of his carpentry wizards to show us all the best way to make and repair our own equipment. This is a tremendously useful skill for a beekeeper to acquire, even to give hope for someone as hopeless as I am, always hitting my thumb instead of the nail. 

Now for something entirely different.  We will be offering a course on Food Hygiene, date and place yet to be decided. You can easily imagine how important that is for honey producers.  A beautiful new Honey House is being prepared at Horestone by Kevin Stach.     We will be proud to support Kevin with a good knowledge of best hygienic practice.

Finally, my friends, I would recommend that you attend Devon's bi-ennial Buckfast Bee Day on 29th October. To have such a program of lectures, at such a low cost, in such a setting, on your doorstep, is indeed a big asset.  Brian Gant suggests you apply to our Social Secretary Chris to make a block booking, so Chris can co-ordinate transport. Alternatively, book your own ticket through the Beekeeping Magazine application forms.

The apiary is looking its summer best. It is a garden of tranquility, a place of refuge from the noise and dust of the holiday traffic. Lots of new bee friendly plants are blooming and the limes are well in bloom.

With one or two exceptions the colonies are all doing well. Thanks to queen rearing and colony division we now have twenty one units all working.

Three new queens were brought in from outside to widen the gene pool, two donated by Beryl and one bought by the branch. Unfortunately the latter failed to prosper so will need replacing.

Despite a massive demand for nuc’s, brood boxes, supers and countless frames to be made up, not to mention shopping and wax processing our quartermaster and his assistants have done us proud and kept everyone happy (must be a first).

This year it was thought prudent to manage the apideas away from Horestone. Beryl has this in hand. I look forward to next season when all the various activities will take place within the Apiary,

Should you see a pale looking person wandering around blinking at the bright sunlight, that will be Kevin Stach. He has spent so much time refurbishing the honey processing room he must have missed most of the sun, but wait till you see the rewards of his labour, a fantastic facility. So hygienic, so clean, so white, so different to what we had, and he assures me that "we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet". Thanks Kevin.

The last open day was a success with plenty of activities going on for people to take part in.

Finally I would like to say thanks to all the new members we have had turning up on a regular basis. Despite the parking problems we do need you; it’s you who make the difference.

I would like to thank all people who came to Elizabeth and Paul's Garden Party and spent their money. It was a lovely day weatherwise and what a beautiful garden. I do hope the Committee will be able to persuade them to repeat it next year.

HIVE ASSEMBLY AND REPAIR COURSE:
There are still some vacancies for this course to be held on 4^th September - details in last month’s Newsletter. Phone Chris Utting on 01237 474 500 to reserve a place.

This is the story of my first and only experience with EFB. Also known as Melissococcus pluton, EFB is a rare occurrence in North Devon. I have only heard of half a dozen cases. I have been keeping bees now for over 20 years and have attended all the training courses on bee diseases that have been available. On the courses you do see the brood frames showing signs of EFB but it is not the same as the real live, hot under your nose, heaving and breathing EFB.

I have an apiary at Annery Kiln at Weare Gifford. At the beginning of the year I only had three colonies in this apiary although there was room for a lot more. So I volunteered for it to be used as a quarantine apiary to take swarms collected during the summer for the Branch. The idea was to keep them under observation for at least a worker brood cycle to establish that no disease was present.  The swarms were to be re-queened for the branch to sell to beginners at a reasonable price. We had a waiting list of a dozen people.

On returning from my holiday Peter checked the other colonies and swarms and I was relieved to find that there were only two of the original colonies infected.  A shook swarm treatment was successfully applied and all the frames and comb were burned.  The hive woodwork was scorched.  Now I have to wait for six weeks which expires in the middle of August.  This is the period for two brood cycles to be absolutely sure that EFB is no longer present.  So I am keeping my fingers crossed.  In the meantime I have received a Standstill Notice which means that no bees or equipment can be moved from the site on penalty of a maximum fine of £5,000.   My bee disease insurance claim has been sent off and I am now waiting for the cheque to arrive.

I feel sorry for the beginners who now have to wait so long for their first bees.   But the good news is that the by using a quarantine apiary, the disease is contained and my main apiary at Buckleigh with fifteen full size colonies has been protected and is producing a healthy crop of bees and honey.

The colony, which was on a brood and a half, had always been susceptible to the weather but was in a secluded corner away from people and we had leant to keep well away if a storm was in the air.  However when the swimming pool pump was turned on for the summer the bees emerged angrily and several of the bathers suffered stings.  Not good PR!  The following night, having enlisted the assistance of Michael Duncan, Tony attempted to move the hive at midnight (it had to be late as we were only just past the longest day).  In the pitch black the bees boiled out of the hive in their thousands, resisting any attempt to shut them in.   A hasty retreat was called for, together with reinforcements and Tony, Michael, Tony’s wife Joan and myself returned a day later in the light.

A successful operation in which none of us suffered a sting (it wasn’t for the bees not trying!) but a bitter-sweet one nonetheless as the colony itself had thrived at the hotel, had never swarmed (in fact hardly ever even produced queen cells) and even last year produced honey in saleable quantities.