Bookshelf

Buy these titles at www.beesfordevelopment.org/catalog or at our shop in Monmouth, UK

A sting in the tale

Dave Goulson 2013 256 pages Hardback £17.99 (US$28; €21) G445

Dave Goulson is a respected researcher and conservationist. The plight of the bumblebee is serious: over the last 80 years in the UK, populations have dropped and two species have become extinct. Goulson’s effort to reintroduce the short haired bumblebee to the UK is the central story in this book which also introduces the reader to the life of the bumblebee and of the bee researcher. Goulson explains the burgeoning worldwide business based on bumblebees, and the harm it is causing. He shares research into the effects that intensive farming has on bee populations. This is a highly enjoyable, readable, topical and interesting book.

Keeping bees and making honey

Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum 2013 2nd edition 144 pages £15.99 (US$24; €19) B125

A revised edition of this beautifully produced, concise guide for people who are new to beekeeping and what it entails. The photographs are wonderful. While explaining that the honey bee colony is a superorganism, the text describes the conventional approach to frame hive beekeeping as practised in the UK.

A beekeeper’s progress

John Phipps 2013 224 pages £15.99 (US$24; €19) P125

John Phipps has spent most of his life earning a living from bees and in his excellent new book, describes his beekeeping odyssey from the UK to his current home nestled in mountainous southern Greece. He has learnt much about bees during his life. He describes characters, skills, methods, bees – an abundance of knowledge gained from travelling and experiencing beekeeping in many countries, and editing the well-known Beekeepers Quarterly magazine. His book contains fresh content that will interest new and experienced bee enthusiasts, with an abundance of useful snippets – for example that beeswax imported from Africa to Europe is free from 200 of the chemicals most likely to be found in the environment. Nice, near the close of the book, to read that after 40 years of beekeeping the author is now departing from conventional frame hives to use top-bar hives, and enjoying the simplicity of harvesting beautiful and natural honey combs.

The spirit of the hive

Robert E Page Jr 2013 226 pages Hardback £20 (US$30; €24) P905

Robert Page is as a world renowned honey bee geneticist. In this book he explains how colony activity and co-ordination occur naturally as worker bees react to stimuli in their environment. Page explores the genetic and physiological mechanisms working at individual bee and colony level. Although the word features only rarely in the book, Page acknowledges that the concept of superorganism is deeply involved in his work.

Three cells of honeycomb

Francis G Smith 2013 reprint first published 1994 247 pages £15 (US$22; €20) S515

The title of this book derives from Francis Smith’s life and beekeeping work in three different continents: Europe (UK), Africa (Tanzania) and Australasia (Western Australia). The story begins as World War II ends, with Smith leaving the British army and becoming a forestry student in Aberdeen. Upon graduation he was immediately appointed by the Colonial Office as Beeswax Officer in Tanganyika (as Tanzania was known at that time), where he remained for 13 years. At the independence of Tanzania he moved to work in Western Australia as Senior Apiculturalist and 12 years later became Director of National Parks.

Among many achievements, Smith identified and named two races of honey bees Apis mellifera monticola and Apis mellifera litorea. The book reveals an interesting contrast between life then and now. Smith and his family faced plenty of challenges along the way, and a picture emerges of a good life, with plenty of resources available. Readers currently working in beekeeping development will be interested to read of work underway 45 years ago.

Alphabetical guide for beekeepers

Ken Stevens 2012 948 pages £35 (US$52; £46) S999

A very idiosyncratic dictionary compiled by Mr Stevens over his 70+ years of beekeeping. With nearly 1,000 pages this is a significant amount of information, and an abundance of facts.

The observation hive

Karl Showler 2013 3rd edition 90 pages £13 (US$19; €17) S405

Since the first edition of this unique book in 1978, beekeeping in the UK has undergone resurgence. Interest has increased in watching how bees live and this book provides all the information needed to achieve and maintain a successful observation hive.

Wild hope

Andrew Balmford 2012 255 pages Hardback £18 (US$27; €22) B445

Conservation is tough and we are faced daily with headlines about damage and destruction of the natural world. In the first chapter Andrew Balmford explains that he wanted to “explore the glimmers of good news” and not concentrate on the doom and gloom. Each chapter concentrates on a different problem and the strategies devised to fight and try to win the battle for conservation.

Honey crafting

Leeann Coleman and Jayne Barnes 2013 160 pages £12.30 (US$19; €14) C230

This book contains instructions for making beeswax candles of various types, and using honey as an ingredient in 25 different types of soaps and body creams, and also 45 food and drink recipes. Intended for a North American readership – recipes are given in cups and ounces.

Prices in US$ and € are approximate and for guidance only

Pollinators are in the news. Bees, birds, bats, butterflies, beetles and many small mammals, are involved in pollinating plants used for human and other species’ food. Some pollinator species have seen a 90% decline in their populations over the last decade, according to the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, a collaboration of 120 organisations in Canada, Mexico, and USA that promotes the role that pollinators play in food systems.

In addition to bringing awareness to the importance of pollinators and their plight, the idea of encouraging creativity and providing a venue for artists of all types, abilities and experience blossomed. Art of Pollination, a book of stunning art submitted from artists around the USA, is a project of the Chugach Arts Council to bring awareness to the plight of pollinators, to inspire creativity and to benefit the Council.

The book can be viewed online at http://www. magcloud.com/browse/issue/555950