Dorchester and Weymouth Bee Keepers Association

This could be you in 2026.

Dorchester and Weymouth Beekeepers will be running a course in the spring for those thinking of becoming beekeepers.

When? This will be in the Spring on Tuesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm. It will be followed by practical sessions at our apiary at weekends. Why can't I be more precise on dates? Simple. The weather we may have a really cold wet spring and bees do not like their hives opened in cold weather. Then again we may have an early warm spring and we can open the hives in March.

Where? The theory sessions will be held at the Colliton Club in Dorchester. A very suitable venue - since it sells beer ( and coffee).

Course Content? We won't teach you all there is to know about bees. That takes a lifetime and even then you cannot cover everything. What we will teach you is enough for you to get your own bees and look after them. Perhaps they will even do so well that you get honey from them.

Who is the course for? This is not a course just for beekeepers. It is a course for anyone interested in bees. Several participants in previous years never intended to keep bees but they were keen to know about them. If you do want to keep bees then by the end of the course you will be able to open a hive and examine the colony - with confidence.

The cost? The cost is just £60. For that you get a course delivered by two experienced beekeepers, both ex teachers so they know how to deliver the course. In addition you will get several visits to the apiary where you will put on one of our bee suits and examine the inside of a hive.

Sign me up Contact our secretary dwbkasecretary@gmail.com

Want to know more? Download this pdf document which has all the details.

With the bees now dormant we can all sit back a bit and enjoy each other's company in convivial surroundings wearing comfy clothes - not bee suits.

I am referring to two events coming up in the next few weeks and one for next year.

The first is a talk by Kevin Pope. If you have not heard Kevin speak before let me tell you he is always entertaining and very knowledgeable. The talk is on Wednesday 19th November at the Colliton Club in Dorchester at 7pm. He will be talking about Tropilaelaps. If you don't come for any other reason then it is worth turning up to hear how to pronounce it!

Tropilaeplaps is a pest which is smaller than varroa, moves faster than varroa and breeds faster than varroa. Some say it is a bigger threat to our bees than varroa. If you want to know more then be there on Wednesday - it will be worth listening to.

The other upcoming event to which I should draw your attention is the Christmas Social. This too will be at the Colliton Club but on Thursday 4th December. Again this is an opportunity to see fellow beekeepers eye to eye and not through two veils.

At the Christmas Social there will be food and drinks - though you will be buying your own drinks. There will also be a quiz with points for correct answers - and we all know what points mean!

Looking even further ahead there will be a Zoom talk on Wednesday 4th February 2026. The talk will be by David Evans from The Apiarist and the subject will be "Rational Varroa Control".

I hope to see you at these events.

Well that has been very interesting - and I suspect there is more to come.

I received a report of a suspected Yellow Legged Hornet (YLH) in Osmington from one of our members. He had already trapped it, photographed it and reported it to DEFRA using the App.

DEFRA were in attendance very quickly and confirmed that it was a YLH. They spent several days looking for more but saw just one. Hopes were high this was an isolated incident where a couple had blown in from a cruise ship. In fact DEFRA felt by the end of the week they had done all they could.

However a member of the public, who had seen YLH notices in the area, also reported a sighting and had lots of photos. At this point activity stepped up gear. Bait stations were set and we saw many YLH visiting the bait but "track and trace" was difficult. This was partly due to the wind and partly due to the food available on the ivy. The YLH would wander round the ivy feeding and then off it went to find more ivy.

As "track and trace" was not working DEFRA brought in radio devices. The YLH is big enough to fly with a transmitter on its back and this is what one was made to do. This can be an expensive process if you lose the transmitter but nothing like as expensive as not finding a nest.

Using this method a nest was found - some 25 metres up a tree.

A lance was sent for from Kent and this was brought in to poison the nest.

Once the nest was poisoned it was left for several days in case any more YLH returned to it.

After about ten days a specialist was brought in to climb the tree and retrieve the nest. The nest is retrieved so that a DNA analysis can be done to find if it is related to any other nest. In addition the nest contains poison which should not be left in the environment.

Looking at the photos you can see that this is a specialist job. It requires special skills - tree climbing with insecticide handling and all done wearing a thick suit. That suit is not a bee suit. I has to be at least 5mm thick since the YLH sting can be 3.5mm long.

Click on the video below to see the nest being detached.