News and Articles

Penrith & District Beekeepers Association (PBKA)  has its Teaching Apiary at Acorn Bank, the National Trust property at Temple Sowerby.  From time to time visits are arranged for community groups that are interested in learning more about bees, pollinators and the work of beekeepers.  This summer, for the first time, a group of Young Carers from the Eden area were invited to come along as part of their summer activity programme.

The group of 7-13 year olds were accompanied by two members of Eden Carer staff . The session was led by two PBKA Members , and  one of the PBKA apiary managers who helped by supplying an observation hive to ensure that the children could safely take a closer look at bees during the session.

Getting ready

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Informal learning activities initially took place in the main drawing room of the house when the children were introduced to the defining features of bumblebees, solitary bees and honey bees and their life cycles. They sorted silk flowers into those that were/ were not  ‘bee friendly’, tasted different types of honey and made wax candles.

As the weather was fine, these were followed by taking a walk through the gardens  where the children  were encouraged to spot bee friendly flowers and watch the bees gathering pollen and nectar. The trail led to the apiary where the children could see the bees entering and leaving the hives. On the way back to the house, they were provided with kits to help them to safely catch and identify different types of bumble bees.  At the end of the day, the children were given a bag in which to carry home their candle and information cards about the Asian Hornet.

Before they left, the staff and children wrote a few comments on their experience. These included

‘I enjoyed: everything; honey tasting; bee catching; looking at the bee hives; making the candles ; every part of the day; It was very informative and doing the activities it was good everyone got involved; catching the different kinds of bees and trying the honey. ‘

‘I will remember: The children being so enthralled and concentrating! How hardworking bees are and to keep a watch for Asian Hornets; All of it- fantastic day- thank you; catching the bumble bees and making candles; what an Asian Hornet looks like; what a bumble bee looks like and how they are different from a honey bee.’

 Penrith Beekeepers’ Winter Zoom Meeting Programme

You are cordially invited to join us for any of these meetings

The next zoom meeting in our winter programme, comes up next week on Wed. 3rd December. This
and the others which follow , with the relevant zoom links, are listed below:

Wednesday 3rd December 2025 7.30.p.m.   

‘Fast and slow beekeeping’.

The art of decision making in Beekeeping:- Knowing when to take timely action and when to be patient. -Making the right decisions for your bees. -Getting the best outcomes for you and your bees
Presenter:   Kevin Thorne
Kevin is a Bee farmer with 50 hives in and around Lavenham, Suffolk. Kevin is
passionate about improving his bees to be calm, healthy and productive and working
to educate beekeepers in this area. He and his wife Julie run Stour Valley Apiaries
and Busy Bees Cosmetics. Kevin has established a Bee Improvement Group at
Abberton Reservoir in Essex, working with local beekeepers, Colchester BKA, Essex
and Suffolk Water and Essex Wildlife Trust to reintroduce the native black bee to the
area.  Kevin is a BBKA  national speaker.

Thursday 15th January 2026 7.30.pm.

What makes Bees Tick??  (Glands, hormones, pheromones, sense organs and much 
more! )

The talk will describe how various glands (including those producing pheromones
and hormones) and sense organs act together, sometimes in very complex ways, to
control the colony. How does the bee manage when it has an impervious outer
skeleton?  What does a superorganism mean in relation to the honey bee colony?
The impacts on foraging, swarming, development of the individual bee and the
colony will be discussed.
Presenter:  Pam Hunter
Pam is based in Sussex. She is a Master Beekeeper and BBKA National Speaker
Z

‘Nutrition in Honey Bees’ :

Focussing on  the nutritional requirements of bees at different times of the year:
-the role of the fat body in overwintering, -the nutritional contents of different pollens -why bees need variety in their diet.
Presenter: Margaret Murdin
Margaret has been keeping bees for over 20 years and is a Master Beekeeper.  She
has won the prestigious Wax Chandlers Award for the highest marks in the BBKA
exams and holds the National Diploma in Beekeeping. Until recently, Margaret  was a
BBKA Trustee and is a Past President, assistant moderator and examiner. She is a
BBKA National Speaker.

We look forward to you joining us for these sessions!

Beekeepers from PBKA and Carlisle BKA visited the ‘ Bees a Story of Survival’  exhibition at the World Museum, Liverpool on 9th March. Fascinating information about how bees have evolved from wasps, the thousands of different types of bees that exist globally and the ways in which they continue to survive against all the odds was provided through films, interactive displays and models highlighted by hi -tech colours, lighting and sounds.   An absolutely amazzzing experience!

on her achievements at the Honey Show.

Including being awarded ‘Best in Show’ rosette.’

Unfortunately two of the cups she was awarded have not been returned to CBKAA so if they eventually arrive we will need to do another photo update!

About the presenters

After two previous attempts which were ‘rained off’,  PBKA members eventually managed to visit Gosling Sike on 4^th September.  Named after a small tributary of the River Eden, Gosling Sike is an organic working farm and the site of Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s northern office.  The land was  transferred to Cumbria Wildlife Trust in 2012 by Sue Aglionby.  Its development as a wetland wildlife sanctuary has taken place over recent years.

The evening was calm and balmy and it was a pleasure to see bees, dragonflies and other insects flying  around the pond and in and out the dense wetland vegetation surrounding it. Adam McGinley the Site Warden described the stages of its development and their surprise at how quickly the insects discovered the site and how many species in fairly large quantities now inhabit it.

During a walk in the nearby coppiced area we were fortunate to encounter the ‘Hedgehog Specialist’, one of the hardworking volunteers who takes a particular interest in monitoring and caring for the hedgehog population which has gradually expanded to at least 10 of them in recent months.  He described the hazards that hedgehogs face, particularly when they are fed the wrong type of food by well meaning members of the public.   Unexpectedly ‘kitten biscuits’ were particularly recommended, while birdseed and commercially produced ‘hedgehog food’ should be avoided as they contain ingredients that hedgehogs cannot digest.

A quick look at the abundant vegetable plots that are tended by volunteers, was followed by a visit to the facilities that are available for volunteers to make resources such as bird and bat boxes which are then sold to raise funds.  Another interesting facility were the purpose built seed sheds which are kept at ambient temperatures to preserve seeds for storage and replanting . This initiative is managed in collaboration with Kew Gardens which is the ‘seed bank’  for seeds from all over the world  and is designed to preserve their genetic strains for future generations.

The visit concluded with a walk through the poly tunnels where seed plugs were being grown to transfer to areas across Cumbria where the plants need to be replaced.

We were all impressed with the wide range of activities that  Cumbria Wildlife Trust are undertaking on this site to help nature continue to survive and thrive in increasingly challenging circumstances.