Contact Us - Bermondsey Street Bees

CONTACT

How To Find Us

103 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3XB

GET IN TOUCH

Dale Gibson
Beekeeping and Apis Consulting
dale@bermondseystreetbees.co.uk

@bstreetbees
@bermondseybees
@apisconsult

Please note that we do not offer swarm collection services.
Visit bbka.org.uk/swarm for your nearest collector.

Sarah Wyndham Lewis
Press, Events, Sales, Honey Sommelier
Tel: 07836 592415
sarah@bermondseystreetbees.co.uk

@sarahwyndham.lewis
@plantingforhoneybees
@honeysommelierlondon

Please e-mail Sarah to join our mailing
list for honey and event updates

To shop at our online store, click here

bstreetbees

Being kept company while watering my allotment thi

Being kept company while watering my allotment this evening by bees on borage (starflower) in a soft light as the summer shadows lengthen. #sustainablebeekeeping #borage #starflower #allotment #beesonallotments #plantingforhoneybees #lengtheningshadows #connectiontourbannature

With EFB-diseased bee colonies being destroyed jus

With EFB-diseased bee colonies being destroyed just a short distance away from two of our Tower Bridge apiary sites, it was good to get a clean bill of health from the Seasonal Bee Inspector for our hives @pottersfieldspark and @onetowerbridge in the sunshine today. Healthy bees are happy bees - and make great honey!

#sustainablebeekeeping #seasonalbeeinspector #europeanfoulbroodwatch #pestilence #stayvigilant

Hello, Summer. #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingfo

Hello, Summer.

#sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforhoneybees #honeysommelierlondon #herecomesthesun #abouttimetoo #forage

A little outing with @BBCEarth to discuss the nice

A little outing with @BBCEarth to discuss the niceties of urban beekeeping & how it re-connects city-dwellers to nature. Hat-tip to @HiltonBankside for access to their hives, located on two tranquil green rooftops - both dedicated to undisturbed wildlife in the very heart of London. #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforhoneybees #honeysommelierlondon #bbcearth #hiltonbanksids #nest&rest #urbantranquility #nohumanaccess

July is the last month in which we expect to see h

July is the last month in which we expect to see honey building up on our hives. Well, we’re knocking on the door of mid-July & here’s a visual representation of how our London (Metro) and country (Union) honey supers look, relative to a normal year. At least the bees are strong! #weather #honeyforecast #plantingforhoneybees #metro #union #beesdoingwell #sustainablebeekeeping #beefarmer #showmethehoney

Just seen the “Making of Rodin” @tatemodern -

Just seen the “Making of Rodin” @tatemodern - the handiwork of the artist hallmarking each exhibit. Beekeepers are manual labourers, too, as my neighbour @normanackroyd observed. So here’s my light-hearted riff on Rodin with “Making of Honey” (with an obligatory black thumbnail!) #rodin #makingofhoney #mon-ey #exhibition #manual #tatemodern #blackthumbnail #abighand

Always good to see our bees working snowberry in o

Always good to see our bees working snowberry in our local park. But if you’d like to broaden your horizons to hear about bees in Canada & Kenya, as well as in London, then tune into #BBCFoodChain podcast entitled “Life Lessons From The Honey Bee” at @bbcworldservice And yes, I’ll be adding my ha’porth worth to the chat. #globalbeekeeping #airwaves #canadianbeekeeping #kenyanbeekeeping #londonbeekeeping #sustainablebeekeeping #beesareaworldservice #snowberry #plantingforhoneybees #honeysommelierlondon

Imagine my surprise, inspecting hives in the deep

Imagine my surprise, inspecting hives in the deep countryside on a damp, grey day, when I lit the smoker and summoned up the genie of the beekeeping lamp ! #puffofsmoke #sustainablebeekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #beekeepinggenie #whathappenedtothethreewishes?

Our drought-tolerant plantings at Guy Street Park

Our drought-tolerant plantings at Guy Street Park have served our local pollinators well. Sadly, though, that doesn’t include our serial prize-winning Bermondsey Street Honey, since we took the tough decision last year to move the bees away for welfare & sustainability reasons. #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforhoneybees #guystreetpark #beewelfare #byemondseystreetbees #droughtgarden #actionnotwords

Just a quick reminder: this is what Summer is supp

Just a quick reminder: this is what Summer is supposed to look like… #sustainablebeekeeping #walledgarden #lastweek #harmony #hope #julylookspromising

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. O

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Or to translate into beekeepingese, when it’s raining cats and dogs, don’t even think about going out to inspect the beehives - instead, stay dry in the honeyroom & extract honey from the honeycombs harvested in last week’s sunshine. #sustainablebeekeeping #honey #honeycomb #spikeyroller #harvest #makelemonade #beekeeperese #mellowyellow #catsanddogs

Terrific light and shade on my allotment this afte

Terrific light and shade on my allotment this afternoon. It’s unusual for me to see a honeybee pollinating a broad bean flower on my plot. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten what is - or isn’t - “usual”. #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforhoneybees #allotmentbees #broadbean #pollination #lightandshade #weedingavoidancestrategy

With four generations of our family having worked

With four generations of our family having worked in Bermondsey, it’s both luvvly and jubbly to feature on the front page of “The Bermondsey Biscuit” alongside the @hiltonbankside hives. We’re bigging up sustainable beekeeping, active plantings & support for local greening charities. #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforhoneybees #plantingforpollinators #bermondsey #beemondsey #tellingithowitis #hiltonbankside #bermondseybiscuit

Usually, we confine ourselves to posting about hon

Usually, we confine ourselves to posting about honeybees.

But for World Bee Day on 20th May we’re celebrating the glorious diversity of all bees.

Did you know that the honeybee is just a single one of the ~270 different species of bee in the UK?

Here are a few snapshots to showcase that vibrant variety!

#bermondseystreetbees #honeybees #sustainablebeekeeping #nativebees #worldbeeday #beespecies #beevariety #beediversity #everydayisworldbeeday #exceptperhapsworldfrisbeeday.

Until last September, these were our Honey HQ roof

Until last September, these were our Honey HQ rooftop hives, making the iconic Bermondsey Street Honey (“Best London Honey” National Honey Show 2019; “Best Honey” Great British Food Awards 2020). We prioritise the welfare of our bees above acclaim, convenience and profit motive. #sustainablebeekeeping #actionnotwords #exbermondseystreethoney #iconichoney #eveninginspection #idealapiarysite #hardchoices #beewelfare #notbeewarfare

Can’t complain - despite the rain. Today we mark

Can’t complain - despite the rain. Today we marked our first white (2021-born) queen bee, after she laid a great pattern of worker brood. What’s more, we’re clearing two supers at the same apiary for our first honey crop of the year, despite the chilly & (up to now) arid weather. #whitequeen #plannedpregnancy #brownfield #goodjob #againsttheodds #bermondseystreetbees #sustainablebeekeeping

The honeybee’s the poster-child for human connec

The honeybee’s the poster-child for human connection with the insect world. The simple reason is that only these bees produce honey for our consumption, forging a delicious link with the natural world. Yet there are ~270 other species of bee in the U.K. & many other pollinators ! #bermondseystreetbees #sustainablebeekeeping #diversity #honey #honeybee #posterchild #shundisneyfication

At this time of year, the bees are busy making mor

At this time of year, the bees are busy making more bees. Here’s a brood frame, brimming with hatching bees under the brown, biscuity hexagons. This emerging generation will first toil industriously in the hive, then fly out to gather nectar and build a summer stockpile of honey. #broodframe #beenursery #thefuture #londonbees #healthybees #plantingforhoneybees #bermondseystreetbees #itswhatwedo

Repost @honeysommelierlondon Read my piece on glob

Repost @honeysommelierlondon Read my piece on global honey fraud for @slowfooduk to find out out why that cheap, squeezy supermarket ‘honey’ poses such a direct threat to our agricultural system.
Link in my bio..

#honeyfraud #nobeesnofood #buyrealhoney #slowfood #slowfooduk #theresldeal #realhoney #wholefood #cleaneating #foodandfarming #gfw

Shook swarms building comb with alacrity, despite

Shook swarms building comb with alacrity, despite the sub-optimal temperatures of the last 10 days. Seeing modest varroa drop on all shook swarm hives, as phoretic mites detach from the bees, without sealed brood to procreate in. And varroa is a “notifiable” pest from 21st April! #shookswarm #combreplacement #experiment #sustainablebeekeeping #varroa #april21st #notapril1st

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