Blog – bees, beekeeping & other sticky subjects
Free Asian hornet infographic
Know your bees’ enemy! Free download – an infographic on the Asian hornet.
The Road to Registration
Have you ever considered what goes into the development of a Vita product? It’s probably a lot more than you ever realised.
Solar Eclipse
How will bees react to the total eclipse of the sun across the USA today?
New Twitter and Facebook handles
Now we are @VitaBeeHealth on both Facebook and Twitter.
Vita’s first Basingstoke allotment harvest
The first jars of honey from Vita’s Basingstoke trials apiary – after just a couple of months with apiaries on site.
Pollen-rich diets help combat varroa
New research shows how “social immunity” of bees to varroa infestations is boosted by pollen-rich diets.
Asian hornet predictions in the UK
With the ability to spread at the rate of 70-80 km per year, what are the prospects for the Asian hornet in the UK?
IMYB DCA Hunt
Woodborough Hill – the mysterious Treasure Island
Did the International Meeting of Young Beekeepers find a drone congregation area (DCA)?
Video coming soon.
Woodborough Hill, sometimes known as Treasure Island, in the Vale of Pewsey is a mysterious place! Twenty-five years ago, a group of midnight UFO spotters were terrified when they reported a craft “80-100 feet (30m) wide”. They flashed at it – it flashed back! Two years later, another group heard what they interpreted as the sound of a ghostly hunt – hunting horn sounds and all!
Well, they did indeed find a DCA. It was still at first and the queen pheromone lure on the end of a fishing rod was attracting nothing. But then a breeze sprang up – and the noise of drones was clearly to be heard, though nothing could be seen!
With eyes looking skyward, they appeared – not huge numbers, but very convincing.
The drones even chased small objects thinking they were queens on the wing.
Eyes up!
Keep watching this url for more photos and the video currently being edited!
What Rev Gilbert White heard?
To celebrate the 225-year anniversary of Gilbert White hearing a drone congregation area, we revisit Selborne Common to listen again.
Varroa in the UK: 25 years on
Max Watkins remembers the first discoveries of varroa in the UK 25 years ago.