Busy bees
IT’S been 150 tumultuous years since the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) was founded, but now, thankfully, more and more people are keeping bees. Back in 1953, there were 80,000 beekeepers in England and Wales with 396,000 colonies, but numbers slowly reduced and, after a varroa-mite disaster in the 1990s, pesticide dramas and colonies collapsing at an alarming rate, hit an all time low in 2001 with fewer than 9,000 BBKA members. Since 2010, there’s been a steady increase, boosted by a campaign led by the BBKA and the NDB (National Diploma in Beekeeping), which resulted in the establishment of an All-Party Parliamentary Group, a fund of £9.5 million for research into pollinators, a Bee Health Strategy and new qualifications and examinations. The enforced solitude and ‘back to Nature’ movement of the pandemic also played a part. Now, members number almost 30,000.
Across the country, local beekeeping associations are planting trees in homage to the anniversary and ‘to help provide forage for not only our bees, but all pollinators,’ says BBKA chair Diane Drinkwater. ‘We are celebrating our successes with the recent award of Fellow of the BBKA to Prof Steve Martin, Salford University; he’ll be speaking at the BBKA’s 46th Spring Convention at Harper Adams University in Shropshire (April 12–24).’ However, ‘beekeeping faces new challenges with the continued threat from Asian hornets, a concern for many
