North Ayrshire Beekeepers Association

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North Ayrshire Beekeepers Association Welcome to the page for North Ayrshire Beekeepers Association.

We keep this up to date with beekeeping related news, research, courses and seasonal beekeeping tips.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Din29E98H/Remember to ensure your hives are secure as Storm Boelo is on its way 🐝🌀
23/10/2026

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Remember to ensure your hives are secure as Storm Boelo is on its way 🐝🌀

An Amber warning for wind has been issued for much of Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland and northern England.

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30/09/2026

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One simple choice that will help protect our bees.

With the threat of Tropilaelaps edging closer, there's a genuinely powerful step every beekeeper can take and it starts with where we source our queens.

Tropilaelaps can cross borders through illegal imports, so the less we rely on importing queens, the smaller the risk of disease becomes. It's our collective demand for queens that keeps the import market going so if we can reduce the demand, we can reduce the risk.

So when you need a new queen, a trusted local beekeeper should be your first port of call.

A few practical things to consider:
- Aim to overwinter at least one nuc as your own insurance against winter losses. This reduces your reliance on outside suppliers at the very moment demand is highest.
- If you do need to buy in, ask where the queen has come from. Was she imported? A queen offered in early April is unlikely to have been born and mated here in the UK so a few well-chosen questions make all the difference.

The threat from Tropilaelaps is real, but the everyday decisions we make as individual beekeepers add up. Those simple, practical choices really can protect our whole community.

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17/09/2026

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Yellow-legged hornet: where we are in 2026 🐝

Here's the picture so far this year. As of 3 September, there have been 167 credible sightings of Yellow-legged Asian hornets confirmed across the UK with 53 nests found and destroyed.

But here's the crucial context: we're only at the start of the busiest period. Last year the vast majority of sightings and nests came from September onwards. 2025 ended with 544 credible sightings and 161 nests destroyed, most of them found in the autumn months. In other words, the weeks ahead are exactly when vigilance counts most.

Every nest found is a nest destroyed before it can spread and that depends on people reporting what they see. If you spot a suspected Yellow-legged Asian hornet, take a photo from a safe distance and report it via the FREE Asian Hornet Watch app or the online form.

You can view the location of confirmed nests on the National Bee Unit's map. See it. Snap it. Send it.

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04/09/2026

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Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Week is almost here - 7th–13th September. 🐝

The Yellow-legged hornet is an invasive predator that preys on honey bees and other insects. First found in the UK in Tetbury in 2016, it's now well established across much of Europe and keeping it from gaining a foothold here depends on people spotting and reporting it.

That's the whole point of next week: the more of us who know what to look for, the better protected our bees and pollinators are. Whether you keep bees or simply enjoy your garden, you can play a part.

More on how to identify via the link in the comments.

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West Kilbride
KA239EN

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