BBKA Spring Convention 2007 NAC Stoneleigh Park Friday/Saturday April 20th - 21st
This years BBKA members day was held on Friday 20th and the Spring Convention on Saturday 21st April 2007. Dennis, Richard & Linda and Bill & Mary attended the lectures on Friday, and Sue, Richard & Nina attended the conference on the Saturday. As usual, we all had a superb weekend. This year the BBKA had introduced the option of an online pre-booking system with credit card or Paypal payment, and this worked extremely well. The weather was warm again this year, and I'm sure there were quite a few people with newly bought melted foundation in their cars due to the heat. Yet again it was busier than last year, as beekeeping becomes ever more popular year by year.
As usual, there was a meleé to get to the bargains on the Saturday morning, with a swarm of thrifty beekeepers with an eye for a bargain and as usual there were some real discounts to be had. All the well known beekeeping suppliers were there. Nina and I found ourselves loading up the car with 12 poly nucs which the club had ordered for our beginners bee programme this year, and we wondered where we were going to put the rest of our purchases. All the usual beekeeping suppliers had stalls, with one or two new additions. The Brunel microscope stand proved very popular and the Beecraft stand was sociable and helpful as ever.
The standard of lectures was first class, with some erudite speakers. One of the most popular lectures was by Celia Davis entitled "Nuc It". Nothing to do with Greenham common, this was a talk about the many uses of nucleus hives, and how indispensable they are in our apiaries. She made it entertaining, interesting and informative from start to finish for both beginners and experienced beekeepers alike. She also described how she uses nucs as a neat method of swarm control, one which she does not claim as her own, but she has used it for numerous years with good effect. As a method of Queen introduction to a colony, she finds the nucleus method foolproof.
Dr Michael Keith-Lucas is a world famous lecturer in the Department of Botany at the University of Reading. He gave us a fascinating talk on pollen in vegetation, history, archaeology, medicine and most entertainingly in forensic science, a field in which he is an expert witness. He told us some wonderful factual stories of how pollen has been used as evidence in a variety of crimes ranging from stealing plants from garden centres, malpractice in the honey trade, with examples of some of the worst commercial scams, to rape and murder cases. Many will have heard him speak before, but his talk just gets better, and he is one of the most fascinating lecturers. Highly recommended.
Dr Thomas D Seeley is Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behaviour at Cornell University, New York. He is an world expert in animal behaviour , particularly researching in Honey Bee behaviour. He gave us an account of his work on insect democracy and social choice in honeybee colonies. Much of his lecture looked at how bees decide on where they will nest once they have swarmed, and the role of the scout bees in this process. The original research by Karl von Frisch and Martin Lindauer motivated him to research this further, and he outlined his detailed, meticulous methodology in testing the theory that bees work on a Quorum-sensing system to make such decisions. He concluded that we humans should learn from the bees in how to make group decisions!
We wished we could have attended all the lectures but we couldn't be in two places at once. Many of the lectures were not scientific, but practical talks on everyday aspects of our fascinating hobby. There were lectures and workshops on subjects as diverse as Mead making, Microscopy, Bees Videos and Computers, Queen Rearing, Cooking demonstrations, and GM crops. I would encourage those of you who have never been to the convention to go next year. It is a great social weekend where one meets fellow beekeepers from all backgrounds, and the cut price bargains make it well worth the trip.
See you there next year! Richard S.