400 Teachers for Amateur Beekeepers
Soaring numbers of people are taking up the hobby amid concern over honey bee decline. But due to challenges from pests and diseases, inexperienced beekeepers are losing more colonies over winter, so better skills are needed.
400 experts across England and Wales are to be trained to teach beekeepers good husbandry as part of a new project under the Government’s Healthy Bees Plan. It will be run in partnership by the British Beekeeping Association (BBKA) and National Diploma of Beekeeping Board (NDBB), and jointly funded by Defra.
The partnership’s new “Course in a Case”, full of training materials, will be delivered through local beekeeping associations. Beekeepers will be trained in groups by the new teachers alongside government bee inspectors, who already offer advice to beekeepers on pests and diseases.
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
