pollination

BEEKEEPING is buzzing again after a Hampshire club reported a surge in membership. Hampshire Beekeepers' Association (HBA) recorded an increase of 250 members this year on top of its 900-strong base. The boost comes a year after bee colonies across the county were reported to have plummeted by a third.

Bees are an essential part of the ecological system that enable us to survive.   -Chris Huhne

 

THE November meeting took the form of our AGM in common with all WIs countrywide. The normal meeting was dealt with efficiently and arrangements made for a short walk at Saul Junction on November 12 (weather permitting). The walk in October proved popular on a sunny morning, and it was decided to repeat this.  

Once again, the Moose Lodge 16 and the Connellsville Lions Club have teamed up with the Falcon Foundation to allow Connellsville Area School District children to participate in school spelling bees. The spelling bees will take place in each elementary and junior high school in January and February, leading up to the Fay-West Spelling Bee at the end of February. Falcon Foundation member Becky McLuckey, chairwoman of the spelling bee committee, said the contributions will allow schools to register so stud  

There's quite a buzz developing about the Bolingbrook Park District's Hidden Oaks Nature Center. That's because bee hives may be coming. Brian Loomis, president of Bolingbrook Honeybee Farms Inc., is engaged in negotiations with park staff members to use bee hives for environmental, educational and business reasons at the center.  

It may seem a few months out of season, but there it was: a bee collecting pollen this week on a beautiful, blooming Yellow Iris at the home of Jackie and Robin Quillen on Fairview Road in Afton. Robin Quillen said that this particular Yellow Iris blooms in November every year and usually stays in bloom until the first snowfall. Ann Gaut, of Ann's GreeneHaus, said irises normally bloom in the spring, but that some plants can re-bloom.  

O ver the past three years, more than 50 billion honeybees have died. Scientists understand the causes, and now we need everyone to lend a helping hand. The humble honeybee has been inextricably linked to humankind since prehistoric times.  

Stephenville (3-0) led by as many as 27 points and was never in danger Tuesday night, thumping host Copperas Cove 71-55 in girls basketball action. The Honeybees did suffer a big loss in the game, however, as guard Kelsey Evans went down three minutes into the third quarter with a hyperextended elbow. Stephenville head coach Alan Thorpe says Evans is hoping for a quick return, but could possibly be out as long as 10 days.  

The buzz in one Brevard County neighborhood is a massive, 10-foot-tall yellow jacket nest that could potentially become dangerous. The hive, around the 1900 block of Timbers West , is home to hundreds of thousands of yellow jackets. Experts told News 13 only a few hives of that exceptional size are found in Florida every year.  

Freehold Soil Conservation District is piloting a new free program for teachers in Middlesex and Monmouth counties titled "Plants for Pollinators in the Classroom." The program is designed to help students discover the importance of native pollinators and to study the relationship between plants and pollinators. Pollinators such as bees, hummingbirds, moths and birds play a critical role in the production of over 150 food crops in the United States — among them apples, almonds, blueberries, cranberries,