The BeeCraft Podcast

Our round-up of the August magazine plus Paddy O'Connell's interview with the Archers' beekeeper, the late Patricia Greene, and the current BeeCraft editors. Plus the start of a visit to Scilly to find and sample its wild-living colonies.

On location, checking out a possible drone congregation area (DCA), co-editors Richard and Stephen pick out some favourites from the July issue of BeeCraft magazine and talk about what's coming up in future issues,

The editing team, Richard, Lucy and Stephen, discuss the June issue plus an exclusive interview with Pete Davies, formerly of the National Bee Unit, who has recently returned from yellow-legged hornet nest hunting in New Zealand.
Links mentioned in the podcast:
The William Parkinson Living Laboratory fundraiser: www.justgiving.com/page/william-parkinson-living-laboratory
The B4 symposium on wild living bees www.b4project.co.uk/symposium
 
To subscribe to BeeCraft magazinewww.bee-craft.com
 
 
 

A low-cost breakthrough in automatically identifying the presence of the invasive yellow-legged hornet at a bait station with no risk of bycatch has been invented by Jon Semple -- hear how it came about and what will happen this season
Who is behind BeeCraft illustrations? Meet beekeeper-artist George Tonge.
Co-editors Richard Rickitt and Stephen Fleming guide you through the May issue of BeeCraft.

In this podcast special from Sao Paulo in Brazil, Kate Graydon of Bristol University tells BeeCraft about her latest research into the wonderful world of Brazil's stingless bees. They can bite, they can heal and some spend their lives thieving from their neighbours.
In the March issue of BeeCraft magazine, Kate surprised readers by showing that honey bee queens lay different sizes of eggs depending on the amount of forage in their area.

The backstory to the April issue of BeeCraft magazine, with co-editors Richard Rickitt and Stephen Fleming.
Video links mentioned in the podcast:
"My Garden of a Thousand Bees" on BBC iPlayer (50 mins)https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002t686/my-garden-of-a-thousand-bees
Skep beekeeping on Luneburg Heath (16 mins)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2IjNBbLESY
 
 

Another look behind the scenes of another issue of BeeCraft featuring Broodbox contributor Peter Smith and Richard's unfortunate encounter with a goat. 

Co-editors, Richard and Stephen, and the magazine designer, Amanda, talk about the February 2026 issue - plus a cameo appearance from Dafydd Pett, and getting in the way of a famous person at the Constable & Turner exhibition at Tate Britain (which features a skep or three). 
Subscribe to BeeCraft magazine at www.bee-craft.com

The editors discuss the January 2026 issue and let you into a few secrets.
Subscribe to BeeCraft magazine at www.bee-craft.com