Thanks to the media, the County Times included, there has been a great increase in the awareness of the importance of bees and of the problems bees are facing.
Not so well known are the problems beekeepers are facing.
One problem is that beekeepers are called out to deal with “swarms of bees”. A description will suggest that it is a wasp nest. But the caller will insist that they are bees ...“do you think I don’t know the difference between a bee and a wasp?”.
We beekeepers have to keep the public on our side so we rarely refuse to come out. What if it was indeed a swarm of bees and we had not come out to deal with it then the publicity would be disastrous.
However usually the beekeeper is correct in the telephone diagnosis of a wasp problem. The householder is told: “It’s wasps not bees”
And the reply is always: “Now you’re here could you deal with it?”
Three times this year I have dealt with wasp nests. On two of those occasions it was obvious that the person knew all along it was wasps and not bees. Were they avoiding the £35.50 that the council would have charged to deal with the wasp nest? However, it usually takes only a few seconds to remove a wasp nest if it can reached. I give the nest to the local badgers but it would have been cheaper to buy them a chicken from the butchers for the journey was an average of 25 miles of petrol each time. All beekeepers have similar stories.
Now beekeepers are advised to refuse to touch wasp nests and tell the householder to call Powys County Council Pest Control unit. Wasps are a problem this time of year but bees have finished swarming
Be kind to beekeepers don’t try to exploit them.