Newbattle Beekeepers Association

The Scottish Beekeepers Association will be hosting the Honey Tent at this year's Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, and the tent wouldn't be the same without the competition entries on display. The schedule is now available for all the competition classes, to download it please click here.  With everything from novice classes, honey, beeswax, crafts, skeps, baking, photography, to young beekeepers' classes there's a competition to suit everyone! So why not give it a go, and who knows, you could be adding 'Award Winning'  or 'Scottish Champion' to your products or promotions! You need to register first before you enter, so please click below and look for Honey Show registration Royal Highland Show Competition Entry Closing date for online entries is Monday 11th May

Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon often rely heavily on small-scale farming for income, requiring them to clear land.

Stingless beekeeping creates income without forest loss, empowering communities to protect their environment.

Bees for Development are fundraising so that they can:

Support 200 people to develop sustainable livelihoods through stingless beekeeping

Train Indigenous Stingless Bee Champions in three regions of Peru

Develop local and national markets for stingless bee products

Protect stingless bees and their habitats

Engage schools and young people through stingless bee education

Make a donation between 22–29 April 2026 and all donations will be doubled!

Using

                   The Demaree method - Read about it Here

The Pagden method - Read about it Here

Read the Blog Post Here

The AGM takes place on Saturday 25th of April, from 10.30am, atSRUC Craibstone Campus in Aberdeen.

This is an important opportunity to take part in the running of the Scottish Beekeepers Association, hear updates on the past year, and have your say on key matters. The AGM will also include the presentation of awards, recognising the achievements and contributions of members, followed by what promises to be an engaging and informative afternoon talk by Dr Johanna Yourstone and breakout sessions.

Attend in person if you are able; it’s always a great chance to catch up, celebrate successes, and enjoy the talk together. Plus, there's a chance to win a microscope!

To register your attendance, please click here. Registration closes on the 12th of April.

If you are unable to attend, you can still ensure your voice is heard by submitting a proxy vote. Download the proxy voting form as a Word doc here or as a PDF here, and please email it to the Scottish Beekeepers Association General Secretary by noon on the 24th April secretary@scottishbeekeepers.org.uk

The agenda and details of all resolutions and trustee nominations received, as well as the meeting papers, can be found in the Members' area of the Scottish Beekeepers Association website. This is a new portal, so you need to follow the instructions on the homepage to log in for the first time.

The Scottish Beekeepers Association  is calling for volunteer beekeepers to share their knowledge with visitors to the Honey Tent. There are around 10,000 visitors per day to the Showgrounds and many of them vist the honey tent.

Volunteering is a great way to meet other beekeepers and to share your enthusiasm with the public.

To register yourself as a volunteer please complete the online form at the link:

Register to Volunteer Here

Martin has recently passed his Apiarian and Expert Beemaster Examination.

The final part of the examination was for him to deliver a presentation on an aspect of beekeeping to an audience of at least 15 people. Two examiners observed him doing this.

Martin delivered his presentation - Drone Laying Queens and Laying Workers at the March monthly meeting attended by 23 people including the examiners.

Watch the film Here

Spring 2026 Sample Pack Requests Reopen Soon! Sample pack requests for the 2026 season will reopen on Wednesday 25th March around 9.30 a.m.  Requests will close once they receive 300 submissions, and packs will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be another opportunity to request a sample pack in July of this year.  ❓How do I request a sample pack? Log in to your National Honey Monitoring Scheme account Head to the "Taking Part" page and follow the instructions.  Important: Sample Packs & Eligibility You can only order one sample pack at a time (limited to one pack per beekeeper and per household). If your Sample History (on the “Taking Part” page) shows a status of “Pack Sent”, you will not be able to request a new one just yet. This might be because:  You received a pack in a previous year, but have not returned it. You returned your sample, but it has not been marked as “received” or you requested a pack and it never arrived (unfortunately they go missing in the post very occasionally). If you have a pack from a previous year, you can use this to send in samples for 2026. If you have misplaced your pack, or fall into category (b), then please contact us at Honey@ceh.ac.uk so we can update your sample status and ensure you're eligible to make a new pack request. Please note: The inbox will be monitored from Tuesday 24th March onwards, so you may not receive a response before this date.  ️ Coverage Areas for 2026 To ensure we produce the highest-quality scientific outputs from the resources available to us, we need to focus on areas where we have up‑to‑date, fine‑scale, satellite‑derived habitat and land‑cover data. While we would love to include every hive, unfortunately we are unable to analyse honey from locations outside the areas covered by our Land Cover Maps. We completely understand this may be disappointing, but we hope the situation will change in the future. This year we are therefore unable to send sample packs to the following locations: The Channel Islands The Isle of Man The Isle of Wight      ⏭️What Happens After You Make a Pack Request: You will receive an automatic email stating “pack requested”.  We will review all the submissions to remove any duplicate requests and ensure an even geographic spread across the UK. You will receive an automatic email stating "pack sent" once your request has been approved and your pack has been dispatched. If we are unable to proceed with your request, we will get in touch with you directly.  If your pack does not arrive within three weeks of the "pack sent" notification, please contact us at Honey@ceh.ac.uk (after checking your email address is correct on your account).  Please review our FAQ page if you wish to find out more about the results you will receive and when you can expect them. You can also learn more about the analysis process on our “How it works” page.

the walrus and the honeybee - don't overlook honeybee nutrition

click on the link above to read the blog post