Spring Show May 3rd and 4th at Puddletown
The Dorset Spring Show at Puddletown was a great success and at the Dorchester and Weymouth Beekeepers stand was very popular.
Many of our visitors were there to make candles from beeswax. We also had a lot of information and there was a lot of interest in the Asian Hornet. This has now been renamed as the Yellow Legged Hornet since this better describes it. Visitors were asked to download the Asian Hornet Watch App. For those not at the show there is information on the Hornet here.
The other item which sparked a lot of interest was honey adulteration. Much of the honey we buy in many shops is labelled as "From several countries" or "From China". Much of this honey is not made in the natural way we expect. To prove the point we had samples of real honey and what we suspected was adulterated honey. Most people preferred the real honey. For more information on this see the Honey Authenticity Network or just search on "Honey adulteration" on your favourite search engine. A interesting report from the Independent is here.
There was also a demonstration of skep making. It's a slow process but as the picture shows you have to start somewhere - and at the bottom is as good as anywhere.
I would like to pass my thanks to all of the volunteers who helped make the stand such a hit over the weekend. We are always keen for more of our members to help at these events. Watch these pages for more information.