• Foreword
• Introduction

1. Early Years
2. My Beekeeping Diary 1945-1956
3. Bee Farming 1957-1981
4. Retirement 1982- 2018

• Epilogue
• Appendix 1. Production Records
• Appendix 2. Reflections on Beekeeping
  by W.S. Robson
• Obituary
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements

REVIEW BY STEVE DONOHOE BEE FARMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2026

Jerry of Northern Bee Books kindly sent a copy of A Perthshire Beekeeper - Athole Kirkwood’s beekeeping diary so that I could write a book review. I understand that a proper book review is meant to lay out certain facts about the book, in a rather impersonal way, giving an impartial description to enable readers to make an informed choice, with no bias from the reviewer. I shall most likely come across more as a fanboy than a reviewer, so, be warned.

Athole Kirkwood was born in 1927 and died in 2020. He married Barbara in 1957 and their first child, Fiona, was born in 1960. There were four more children to follow, but Fiona took on the task of piecing together the various diaries, correspondence, and photographs left by her father to put this interesting book together. She says that he had always wanted to publish a book, in diary form, but it was one of the things that was left undone when he passed away. The pressure a daughter might feel to do her father’s life and work justice when taking on a project like this must be enormous. I believe that Fiona, assisted by her brother Ian, who put the design and layout of the book together, did an impressive job, and I don’t doubt that Athole would have been proud of the result.

The book was published by Northern Bee Books in 2026, edited by Fiona Mackenzie, and is dedicated to Barbara. The ISBN is 978-1-918815-01-6, and it is 251 pages long, and available from the publisher priced at £23. Chapters break the content usefully into discrete periods of time. The appendix features a detailed record of Athole’s honey production (by crop), colony numbers, and losses for each year from 1945 to 2018, which is an astonishing record of bee farming in the 20th Century. There are countless photographs featured throughout the book, showing visits to or from the beekeeping luminaries of the day, as well as more personal shots. The sharpness of the photographs is not perfect, but there is always a compromise of cost vs. quality when producing this kind of work. Of particular interest to me were pieces of correspondence with the likes of Manley, Gale, Smith, Madoc, and others. There is an obituary by Willie Robson, concluding with the words, “He was a giant among beekeepers.”

By its nature, the book contains a series of little snippets into the life of a man who dedicated himself to making a living from honey production in Scotland. Occasionally, a whole year takes up just a single page, often with comments on the weather and honey crop. Stepping back, and looking at the work as a whole, I very much enjoyed reading about Athole’s progression from enthusiastic beginner to one of the largest honey farmers in the UK at the time - up to around 2,000 colonies in the 1970s. When he started out, he did a wise thing; he contacted Manley and Gale to ask for guidance. Both of them were interested in Athole’s ambition, but generally tried to temper it with warnings that bee farming in the UK can be a risky and difficult business. It appears that those warnings did nothing but spur Athole on, to prove that he could be successful, although he was careful, thoughtful, and methodical in the way he approached things.

I was struck by Athole’s early preoccupation with hive type, which is something that most beekeepers can identify with. He had a strong relationship with William W Smith, inventor of the Smith hive, and for twenty years he used Smith hives for honey production. However, he had been fascinated by the larger Dadant hives used by Manley, as shown by letters between the two men. Eventually Athole was convinced that, for bee farming at a large scale, the Langstroth hive was the way to go. He transferred his whole operation over to Langstroths from Smiths, and felt that UK bee farmers were being held back by their use of the smaller National and Smith hives. He was never very keen on the double-brood configuration, and found that keeping brood in a single box meant more honey in the supers.

Another thing that strikes me as I thumb my way through the pages of the book is that, in common with the experience of modern bee farmers, most seasons are surprising in some way. The weather in the UK, and perhaps north of the border in particular, is the dominant factor determining the success or failure of a season. There rarely seems to be a ‘standard’ beekeeping season; something weird is often going on at some point, but we tend to be surprised every time.

Ten years after starting with bees, Athole passed 200 colonies and, in 1955, achieved a yield of 100 lb (45 kg) per colony. Four years later he was up to 500 colonies, and it kept on climbing until peaking in 1976 at 2,050. Yields ranged from 25 lb (11 kg) per colony to 166 lb (75 kg) in the incredible season of 1984. Winter losses showed a wide range too, from 5% in good years to 43% in 1979 (very long and cold winter). It’s possible to follow the changes in forage over time, including the arrival of oilseed rape, and see how Athole evolved to include moving bees for pollination. When varroa arrived, his main weapon of choice was formic acid.

As Athole progressed to become a respected and successful bee farmer, he continued to increase his network of friends and acquaintances from the beekeeping world, as evidenced by his words and photographs. His business was sold in the early 1980s to people who unfortunately went bust. Athole re-purchased some assets, continued for a few more years, and eventually sold Heather Hills Farm to the Noonan family, retiring for a second time. He continued to keep bees throughout his life at a much smaller scale.

Daughter Fiona says, “His was a long life, full of hard work and relaxing family time.” That sounds like a good life to me. For anyone interested in following the steps, from beginning to end, of a giant of the beekeeping world from the 1950s onwards, I heartily recommend this lovingly crafted book.