WITH the school holidays fast approaching, it is time to think about family days out. Here are three suggestions with bees in mind.

Bill Oddie, the popular BBC wildlife presenter, was recently at the Natural History Museum in London to unveil an unusual exhibit in the wildlife garden there: a "bee-tree." The "bee-tree" is actually a tree trunk more than two metres high with a honey bee colony living naturally inside it. Thanks to a large window in the tree trunk, visitors will be able to see inside the tree and watch the bees at work.

The wildlife garden and the "bee-tree" are sponsored by Honey Monster Foods as part of an initiative to raise awareness about honey bees. The Honey Monster is also sending a "Wonderful World of Bees" teaching resource to 5,000 schools. As part of this project, during June and July Bill Oddie will be visiting schools across the UK, teaching children more about bees and their important role within the environment.

The Natural History Museum is situated in Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD and is open from 10am to 6pm. Entry to the Wildlife Garden is free. It is open daily from noon to 5pm, weather permitting, until the end of October.

To celebrate 75 years of beekeeping, the Coventry branch of the Warwickshire Beekeepers' Association has formed a partnership with Garden Organic which many smallholders will recognise as being the UK's leading organic growing charity. Together they have created a new beehive complex at Garden Organic Ryton, near Coventry.

Situated behind the orchard in the ten-acre organic gardens are four hives and an apiary cabin. The new apiary will be used as an all year round training centre, with courses and demonstrations to encourage more people to keep bees of their own.

Peter Spencer, chairman of Warwickshire Beekeepers' Coventry branch, says: "Bees are such wonderful insects. There are so many interesting facets to beekeeping be it their lifecycle, communication, the practical side of keeping hives, or of course honey! This will be used as a teaching apiary, using the latest techniques for controlling varroa. It has been a terrific team effort and we really appreciate all the help and support that Garden Organic have given us."

During the summer there will be a demonstration every Sunday afternoon at 3.30pm, weather permitting, and people interested in bees are welcome to drop in. Garden Organic Ryton is five miles south-east of Coventry off the A45 and is open from 9am to 5pm, seven days a week. For more information visit www.gardenorganic.org.uk or call 02476 303517.

To commemorate the 125th anniversary of the Hampshire Beekeepers' Association there will be a Festival of Beekeeping over the weekend of July 7-8 at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Ampfield, near Romsey, SO51 0QA from 10am to 5pm.There will be lots to see and do for all the family including: live bees behind glass in observation hives, honey extraction and tasting, honey cookery demonstrations, hive building, mead making, wax preparation, candle rolling, and a children's trail around the gardens.

Admission to the exhibition is free. The children's trail around the garden is free to children under 16 and there will be a special half price reduction for adults visiting the gardens. Telephone Hampshire Beekeepers Association: 01489 892390 for more details.

Bee health update
When it comes to keeping our bees healthy, varroa mites seem to be taking most of the attention. However, there are other bee ailments and diseases that have been around for a long time which we must still always be on the lookout for.

Beekeepers have to take responsibility for maintaining the health of their colonies and a new leaflet produced by DEFRA and the National Bee Unit at the Central Science Laboratory is now available to help us to do this. Although entitled "Foul brood disease of honey bees: recognition and control" the leaflet also includes good descriptions and pictures of other common but less serious brood disorders that beekeepers need to know about.

This leaflet PB 11753 is free and available from DEFRA, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR. To obtain a copy ring DEFRA Publications 0845 955 600 or the DEFRA helpline 0845 933 5577.

Disappearing bees Honey bees have certainly been in the headlines this year. You don't have to be a beekeeper to have heard about the reports of disappearing honey bee colonies in the United States.

There are always winter casualties among bee colonies. Here in the UK, bee losses during winter and early spring usually average about 10%, so the reported losses of 50-90% in America are indeed unusual. Although the cause of the American problem has not yet been positively identified it is being called Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD for short.

But the phenomenon of disappearing bees is not a new one. Similar things have happened in the past in many different countries and have been given many different names. In bee books you will find references to Spring Dwindling, May Sickness and Autumn Collapse. Quite recently a similar occurrence was labelled as Disappearing Bee Syndrome.

In my part of south-west England in 2004 and 2005, many apiaries suffered from Disappearing Bee Syndrome with some colonies being very weak in spring and some hives being found empty like the "Marie Celeste."

We believe that we found the culprit here though and we put the blame firmly on varroa, the parasitic mite of honey bees, which have spread to most colonies in the UK now. It was in 2004 that we became aware that the anti-varroa treatments that we had been relying on for more than ten years were no longer having the desired effect. The varroa mites were becoming resistant to the active ingredient in the strips (pyrethroids) and instead of being killed, some varroa were surviving and continuing to multiply un-noticed.

Varroa mites also transmit viruses which cause diseases. Bee viruses are not new either and generally do not cause beekeepers concern, but when a colony is already weakened by varroa infestation the viruses can multiply and spread rapidly.

In my area the most evident problem was Deformed Wing Virus. As the name suggests, the bees develop with deformed wings as well as other abnormalities. When the bees leave the hive, they fall to the ground. They cannot fly, so they cannot get back home. They may be eaten by birds or other predators, in other words they simply "disappear." Without new worker bees replacing the old ones, the colony cannot function. It grinds to a halt and dies. This is what is meant by colony collapse.

The simple solution to our trouble here was to alter our method of dealing with varroa. We changed the autumn anti-varroa treatment to a thymol based one and incorporated other methods of varroa removal into the regular beekeeping routine. In my own apiary I was also ruthless in removing and destroying any combs of brood that were harbouring virus infected larvae and after that, things soon returned to normal.

Whether varroa is involved in the American bee colony disappearances, only time will tell.

Jobs for July
Keep adding supers where there is a nectar flow.

Start extracting when combs are sealed.

Reduce entrances to protect hives from robbing by other bees and wasps.

Start to prepare bees if going to heather next month.

Quick tip
Dip your strawberries into runny honey for a delicious treat.