This is the 3rd edition and a companion volume to Celia’s first book The Honey Bee Inside Out which covered the anatomy and physiology of the honey bee.
The Honey Bee Around and About begins by looking at the origin of honey bees and continues with a description of the different subspecies. Disease is often a neglected topic but it is an important factor for the beekeeper to bear in mind. Celia details the major diseases affecting honey bees as well as other pests including the mite, Varroa destructor.
The honey bee’s major function is as a pollinator of flowers, both in agriculture and the wider environment, and the final chapters look at the relationship between bees and flowers and the resultant products of the hive.
The sections are:
• Honey bee beginnings
• Variations
• Health and hazards
• When the kids are ill
• Problems with the grown ups
• Mighty mites
• The enemy within and without
• The broader picture
• Flower show
• The food of the gods
• Other bee essentials
• On best behaviour
• More than sweet, thick and sticky
The book concludes with a glossary including phonetic spellings and suggestions for further reading. It is a book for anyone wanting to know more about our fascinating honey bees as well as those studying for the British Beekeepers’ Association examination modules.
This third edition has been completed updated and includes details of the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina), a new threat to our honey bees.
The Author
Celia’s interest in insects began when she was a child and continued through university, where she obtained a degree in Agriculture. She then followed a career in teaching and lecturing in pure and applied biology. Much later, influenced by a husband who is a keen photographer, came the desire to study and photograph the insect world in greater depth and, in 1980, she acquired her first hive of bees. This event proved to be life-changing as the honey bee became something of an obsession.
Celia obtained her National Diploma in Beekeeping in 1994 and has been involved in her County and local Association in many capacities, as well as serving a six-year term on the British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) Examinations Board. She is closely involved in teaching beekeeping, is a tutor for the BBKA Correspondence Course and examines at all levels. She wrote regular articles for Bee Craft for I 0 years and her first book was published in 2004, followed by the second in 2007. Both of these volumes have now been updated. She is in demand from a wide range of groups to speak on bees, other insects and environmental matter both in the UK and further afield.
Celia and her husband, Cyril, live in rural Warwickshire in the village of Weston under Wetherley and, as well as gardening and beekeeping, they enjoy visiting other gardens and local nature reserves and bird-watching.
