Book Reviews: Hive Tour, Rogue Princess, & Hoverflies.

Introduction.

It’s still quite mild here but damp and misty as I write. The beech tree in the front garden put on a particularly good show this year but the glorious sunny yellow leaves are all crisp and brown today. The birds have stripped the holly bush almost bare of its glorious scarlet display, and it’s time for me to turn to indoor tasks and get some wax cleaned and rendered down for foundation making.

Probiotic Follow-up.

Some of you liked last week’s probiotic post and Julian rose to the challenge and explained how he makes fermented goat’s milk with a twist of alcohol along the lines of Mongolian airag. It was so interesting that I am posting his response today in case you don’t read all the blog comments. For new readers, here is Julian’s interesting account of an encounter with bats and drones, https://www.beelistener.co.uk/honey-bees/honey-bee-drones-chase-bat-by-julian-wormald/

Julian writes, “An interesting dip into a massive topic, which I’m sure people are only just beginning to understand and research. I can’t think I’d ever use a probiotic for bees, any more use a mycorrhizal fungi supplement for establishing plants, thinking that getting food source diversity for the bees/soil conditions for the plant were likely to be better routes to good health.

I’ve never heard of the airag. However! About 18 months ago I discovered secondary fermentation goat’s milk kefir. This is a very similar concept – not the yoghurt-like stuff you can buy in a supermarket, but as far as I could discover only available in the UK from a supplier very close to us – ‘The Chuckling Goat company’.

Readers might be interested in checking out their website, and how the (now) very successful business came to be set up. We bought some, tried it, and liked it, but it was just too expensive to consume in the recommended quantities, so having been a keen amateur brewer in the past, had a go at making it myself. Entirely anecdotally, we reckon it’s made a big difference to our gut function, and maybe more generally, though that’s less easy to comment on. (I used to suffer from IBS). It’s also an incredibly great way to start the day – probably the small hit of alcohol in it. I have also pondered the assertion that no bugs make it through the acid of our stomachs. If so, how do all the bugs in our guts ever arrive there? (There’s some very interesting recent work on the role of the gut/respiratory axis and Peyer’s patches in our own mucosal immunity system – let me know if you’re interested in this).

But, being the nerdy scientist, I’m intrigued to notice how the physical properties of the goat’s milk change just before the optimal point at which I bottle it – within 24 hours of beginning the process. It suddenly starts to stick to the Kilner jar glass wall, and is really tricky to shift at this stage. (Interestingly, I also had a go at yoghurt made from goat’s milk and it was physically very different to cow’s milk yoghurt, being really gloopy.)

The kefir is also remarkable, because under pressure in the bottles (like champagne) and I guess the anaerobic conditions, the commercially supplied product has a very long ‘safe’ stable life outside a fridge. The bought stuff is so fizzy that you have to open the bottle in a bowl, ‘cos it froths out. Probably part of the reason the company only markets it via direct sales and not supermarkets.
Intrigued, I looked for scientific papers on what the chemistry/components of kefir are. Not surprisingly, it’s incredibly complex – like honey, indeed. However, I discovered very few scientific papers dipping into this. All of which came from those parts of the world – Middle East/Asian/Caucuses, where this has been a staple food for millennia, with (anecdotally!) very well-recognised health benefits across a wide spectrum of conditions.
Am I surprised that ‘Western’ countries/scientists don’t seem to have looked at kefir more seriously as part of a healthy diet? Not really. But that’s another huge story!”

Thank you, Julian, for sharing this with us.

Hive Tour.

Frank Linton invited me to review his latest book for sharing with you. I’m a great fan of his having relied on his “Observation Hive Handbook” for managing my own observation hive which I try to set up every year for a few months. I was inspired by Enid Brown in 2014, when I met her at the Gormanston Summer School in County Meath, Ireland. I was intrigued by her account of the observation hive that she kept in her bathroom. I wanted one inside too. I imagined studying bees every day of the year at close quarters. However, the family vetoed my proposal and I didn’t really have an option but to quietly acquiesce. After all, they had already put up with several years of living alongside various rescued animals, including a piebald rat called Alice found wandering the streets of Elgin by a neighbour, and even more years surrounded by thousands of bees in our garden; not to mention suffering the inevitable occasional painful sting. Sadly, the bee shed is too cold for maintaining an observation hive over winter, but I make do with close watching during the active season.

If you use an observation hive for teaching, or attracting attention at sales events, this is the book for you.

Title: Hive Tour: The Insider’s Guide to Honey Bees

Authors: Phil Frank & Frank Linton

Publisher: Honey Tongue Press, USA, 2024

ISBN: 9798336593068

Paperback, A4 size

Cost: £21.50

Available: Northern Bee Books, https://hivetourguide.com/ and other bookstores

Hive Tour: The Insider’s Guide to Honey Bees is a comprehensive but simple account of how a honey bee colony functions inside its hive. The authors, Phil Frank and Frank Linton have skilfully crafted this unique visual aid using uncomplicated chunks of information alongside photographs. Imagine an observation hive on paper. This is the perfect educational tool for visual learners who enjoy looking at beautiful pictures to see how things work.

Phil Frank and Frank Linton have over 30 years beekeeping experience between them and they both hold Eastern Apicultural Society Master Beekeeper certificates. Phil is a science journalist and television producer. Frank is an experienced observation hive beekeeper and author of The Observation Hive Handbook. He also writes for the main US beekeeping journals.

There are 56 pages including a glossary and index. Dewey Caron, world-renowned honey bee scientist, educator, and writer, has written the foreword endorsing this effective book. Every page is illustrated with clear photographs. Arrows, labels, and comprehensive text boxes direct the curious reader to the facts, and there are 9 chapters called tours. These include hives, adults, babies, bee parts, bee food, and intruders.

This book is for everyone interested in honey bees who command centre stage in any discussion about pollination, agriculture, and biodiversity. However, this is also a “must have” book for an individual, or local beekeeping association, taking an observation hive to a school or country show. It is the perfect accompaniment and explains clearly what is going on inside the hive. It questions the observer and prompts further study. The questions on page 49 are perfect for self-assessment, and a super tool for someone tasked with making up a beekeeping quiz. It is also a good first guide for any new beekeeper, and there is so much to learn here. Did you ever struggle to understand bee space? The explanation given here is perspicuous and concise and the concept should be easily understood by new beekeepers. Hive mishaps with incorrect spacing and the subsequent problems of mismatching boxes and frames sticking together will be avoided.

Hive Tour Hive Tour will be a valuable addition to school libraries, especially for those schools with apiaries and beekeeping classes. 

A Rogue Princess.

Title: ABC Adventures of a Rogue Princess

Authors: Alex Lamont and David Polansky

Illustrator: Alex Lamont

Publisher: Rogue Princess Publishing

ISBN: 979-8-9896269-0-8

Paperback, 44 pages, A4 size

Cost: £9:94

Available: https://rogueprincesspublishing.com/ and other bookstores

What a delightful and engaging children’s book the ABC Adventures of a Rogue Princess is. The authors Alex Lamont and David Polansky certainly know how to write for children and capture their attention and imaginations. The Princess is a flamboyant young lady who dresses in vivid outfits and performs outrageous feats. Her companions are colourful characters too. This book was created for 4-8 -year-old children but it is for all children, young and old, and will be especially enjoyed by those learning the alphabet in a fun way. Little girls will love reading about the adventures of the fearless princess and everyone will laugh heartily. I certainly did, and I loved reviewing it.

Every page has been beautifully and skilfully illustrated by Alex Lamont and is bursting with activity and infectious humour. For every letter there are words beginning with it hiding in the pictures. For example, for the letter G there is a gorilla in a pink miniskirt, a ghost, a granny, a gnome, and many more characters the names of which the reader is invited to find. There is a list at the back of the book to check later for any word that they missed.

This is more than just a fun activity book; it has been masterfully created in rhyming language to help young children develop phonological awareness. It will help them remember certain words, understand sounds and how many syllables are in words, and develop listening skills.

There is a bee related theme to stimulate conversation about pollinators. The young reader is encouraged to look out for the Princess’ tiny best friend hidden somewhere on each page.

This will make an excellent gift for Christmas or a birthday. Every pre-school nursery should have a copy.

Hover Flies.

I’m quite fascinated by hover flies. I like the way they use bio-mimicry to protect themselves. Some are wasp lookalikes and scare off would-be predators, and others look like honey bees till you study them more closely. One clue, that they are true members of the fly order (diptera), is that they have only one pair of wings. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to review this book.

Title: Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland, Third Edition

Authors: Stuart Ball and Roger Morris

Publisher:  WildGuides, Princeton University Press

Published: 2024, 344 pages, paperback

ISBN: 978-0-691-24678-9

Cost: £25

Available:

Hoverflies of Britain and Ireland by entomologists Stuart Ball and Roger Morris is the third edition of this popular photographic field guide. It has been fully updated and revised to reflect advances in hoverfly detection, and includes 12 additional species. The distribution maps now include Ireland.

Together, the authors have run the Hoverfly Recording Scheme since 1991, and they organise hoverfly identification training courses across the UK. This detailed field guide also provides additional information on: hoverfly biology and lifecycle, where, how, and when to find them, legislation and conservation, hoverfly photography, fieldcraft, catching hoverflies, the ethics of curating pinned collections, gardening for hoverflies, recording and how to get involved in citizen science.

The photography is magnificent with 1,048 perfectly focussed shots of these fascinating insects. Macrophotography is used to show the various body parts in greater detail to enhance identification. There is detailed information on 177 hoverfly species, and this includes at least one of each of the 69 recorded genera. There is a complete list of the 285 species recorded to date, a glossary, and a short index to hoverfly genera and subgenera.

This is a timely publication as the general public becomes increasingly aware of pollinator decline and the need to do something, no matter how small and local, to conserve insects and improve their habitats. Some gardeners may not be aware of the valuable role some hoverfly larvae play in reducing pests like aphids, and that by creating nesting areas for hoverflies they can play an important part in enhancing biodiversity and the environment.