BIBBA-SICAMM Conference, Llangollen, North Wales, 26-28th September 2014

                                               The Pavilion, Llangollen

                                               View of the river and railway station, Llangollen

Conference Programme

Friday 26 Sept

10.00 – 10.15 Jenny Shaw, Welsh Beekeepers’ Association Chair: Opening presentation.

10.15 – 11.00. Brian Dennis (BIBBA) and Dorian Pritchard (SICAMM):  Opening reply.

11.15 – 12.15 Lecture

Stream 1: Pete Sutcliffe: "Colony Nutrition."

Stream 2: Giles Budge: "Understanding the genetics andprovenance of UK honey bee populations."

Stream 3: Robert Paxton: "Hybridization – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

1.30 – 2.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Trisha Marlow: "Fit to rule?  Nutrition for queen honey bees."

Stream 2: Catherine Thompson: "The health and status of feral honey bees in the UK."

Stream 3: Romée van der Zee: “Two or three things we don’t know about colony losses: an investigation into the findings of the COLOSS International Research Group.”

2.45 – 3.45 Lecture

Stream 1: Graham Royle: "The Hive Mind."

Stream 2:  Steve Rose: "Hassle-free Queenright Queen Rearing."  and …

Andrew Abrahams: "Overwintering Mininucs."

Stream 3: Balser Fried: “Correlation between morphometry according to Ruttner and DNA analyses in determination of affiliations within the bee subspecies Apis Mellifera mellifera.” [Martina Siller’s thesis] and …

Michel Bocquet: “Assessment of quality and breeding value of queens and drones.”

4.30 – 5.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Ben Harden: "Dynamics of the Winter Cluster."

Stream 2: Irene Power "At the Hive Side."

Stream 3: Dorian Pritchard "The community concept in honey bee   conservation."  and …

John Hendrie: "Queen supersedure."

Evening lecture

Ingvar Arvidsson: "An experiment in reintroduction of the white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopus leucotos) to Sweden."

Sat 27 Sept

9.30 – 10.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Graham Royle: "Apis Through the Looking Glass."

Stream 2: Mary Ryan: "Simple Genetics for Beekeepers."

Stream 3: Aoife Nic Giolla Coda: "Apis mellifera mellifera in Ireland and the Role of the Native Irish Honey Bee Society (NIHBS)."

and …

Andrew Abrahams: "Creating a Reserve for Apis m.m. — benefits and problems for the future."

11.15 – 12.15 Lecture

Stream 1: Roger Patterson "Honey bees in the wild — what can we learn from them?"

Stream 2: Willie Blakely "The problems and solutions of a queen rearing group."

Stream 3: Dorian Pritchard: "Which is the best bee for the north and how would I identify it?"  and …

Andrzej Oleksa: "Assortative mating among European subspecies of honey bees."

1.30 – 2.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Norman Carreck: "What future for local bees in Britain?"

Stream 2: Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda: "Evaluating and Selecting Honey Bee Stocks for Breeding."

Stream 3: Maria Pilar De La Rúa: "Conservation status of Apis mellifera iberiensis in Spain."

2.45 – 3.45 Lecture

Stream 1: Celia Davis: "Understanding the youngsters."

Stream 2: Jo Widdicombe: "The Principles of bee improvement."

Stream 3: Rustem Ilyasov "Isolates of dark European honey bees, A.m. mellifera L. in the Ural mountains of Russia." and …

Harry Owens: "Bees in the Isle of Man."

4.30 - 5.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Ceri Morgan: "Following Your Nose"

Stream 2: Jonathan Getty: "Apidea  management — what works for me."

Stream 3: Willie Robson: "Honey farming with local bees."

6.00 – 7.00 SICAMM General Meeting.

7.30 Dinner

Sun 28 Sept

9.30 – 10.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Willie Robson: "What the books don't tell you."

Stream 2: Wally Shaw: "Local bees for local beekeepers."  (Kindly sponsored by the Welsh Beekeepers' Association.)

Stream 3: Eoghan Mac Giolla Coda: "Strategies for the Conservation of the European dark bee, Apis mellifera mellifera."

11.15 – 12.15 Lecture

Stream 1: Robert Paxton: "What we do — and do not — know about honey bee mating"

Stream 2: Micheál Mac Giolla Coda: "Conservation and Improvement of the Native Irish Honey Bee."

Stream 3: Romée Van Der Zee: "Observations of reduced varroa mite reproduction in worker brood of the Texel Apis m. mellifera population." and …

Dara Scott: "New breeding programme to protect the Native Irish  Honey Bee.”

(These two presentations have been kindly sponsored by Bee Diseases Insurance (BDI).)

1.30 – 2.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Keith Pierce: "Producing nuclei — the corner-stone of a sustainable apiary."

Stream 2: Ethel Irvine: "The Importance of the Drone in the hive."

Stream 3: Rustem Ilyasov: Conservation status of A.m.m. in Russia.” and …

Bjørn Dahle: "Conservation efforts and status of A.m.m. in Norway.”  and …

Ingvar Arvidsson: "Projekt NordBi. How to preserve and develop our black bee in Sweden.”

2.45 – 3.45 Lecture

Stream 1: Geoff Critchley "The answer was disappointing, but what did I expect?"

Stream 2: Andrew Abrahams "Keeping bees in the Hebrides and working with a closed population."

3: Lucja Skonieczna: "Conservation of A.m.m. in Poland." and …

Romée van der Zee: "Survival of the dark bee in the Netherlands.” and …

Michel Bocquet: "Conservation activities and A.m.m. in France."

4.30 - 5.30 Lecture

Stream 1: Gerry Ryan: "Preparing for Winter."

Stream 2: Gavin Ramsay: "What can we do with DNA?"

Stream 3: Per Thunman: “How can you be sure you’ve got Apis mellifera mellifera?” [Discussion]

5.30

Closing remarks by Brian Dennis (BIBBA) and Per Thunman (SICAMM).