Cormac (Bee guy)

Just checked your bookstore and found something perfect for my brother. Great store!

To bee In praise of the world’s all-important pollinators, which face the perils of a changing climate, agricultural water hoarding and a deadly mite called “destructor”

Beautifully written piece by @greenj.bsky.social on how #bees change the way you see the world. Captures what it is like to be a #beekeeper so well!
www.themonthly.com.au/march-2026/e...

Absolutely! The difference can be up to 10 degrees, in a heatwave that is incredibly important.

Was at a fisheries conference in the early 2000's where Obeid was one of the speakers. Even back then he had a reputation for corruption, and to this day is the shiftiest, slimiest politician I have ever met in real life.

How trees could be the difference between property value boost or drop The location of a street tree could be the difference between a property value boost or drop, new research finds.

Covered this phenomenon in my book - trees add significant value to houses.
Making them pollinator and wildlife friendly species only enhances the effect!
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Weirdest experience the other night - we were woken up by a buzzing sound at 4:30am, to find a drone pointing into our bedroom window.
It moved off as soon as we got up, circled the house, the neighbours, and flew off about 20 minutes later.
Reported to coos and CASA.
Very creepy!

Scientists tagging 10,000 bogong moths to solve mystery The project's success largely relies on citizen scientists spotting a distinct white dot on the wings of moths.

Love this story on how citizen science is tracking our most famous migratory moth species! 🧪
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

Yeah, I am going to cycle Formic, Oxalic and Thymol treatments just in case!
We are in invasion phase now, dozens of mites flooding in from collapsed hives, so drone trapping is proving to be the most effective approach.

Wow, will definitely give them a go then!

Really? That is fascinating! I saw them and thought that it looked like a gimmick.
I will have to give them a try!

Treatment-resistant varroa mites spread in Queensland and New South Wales The world's worst honey bee parasite is genetically mutating, becoming resistant to common treatments used to save hives.

Was inevitable that chemical resistance would emerge in Varroa mites, especially when beekeepers are using the same treatments one after the other.
We are all rotating treatments here to reduce the risk of this.

www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2...

Honey from Australian wildflowers has potent power to kill bacteria The next jar of Australian honey you buy may just be doing more good than you realise.

Fascinating findings from this chemical analysis of different types of Australian #honey.
More diverse floral sources leads to higher antimicrobial action! 🧪

theconversation.com/honey-from-a...

Myself and Emerald in front of the beehives

Cocoons of baby bees

Capped honey

Checking my pollination hives today - they are turning out a reasonable amount of honey too! Go #bees!
Emerald also helped out - the bees seem to be getting used to her being around.

Do it! You get so many more birds!

Growing appetite for native grasses reshapes rural landscapes Native grasslands across southern Australia are slowly making a comeback, driven by conservationists, farmers and a growing native seed industry.

I love my native grass lawn - low maintenance, drought tolerant and food for native parrots.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

Congratulations! Huge achievement!

I love Blue Banded Bees - in fact the whole Amegilla genus is just magical.
I had a colony of around 20 in my garden last season, they have such a loud hum with their wings, and the little 'zzzzziiiiip' as they buzz pollinate is so much fun to hear!

Yeah, we saw this in the cinema. Such a beautiful movie.

Wow, what a brilliant dining experience! Yes, it is fun tasting the variation in the honey we get between embassies.

Yeah, we had around 20 frames full of honey in the two hives!

This will be used for gifts by the Embassy.

Yes, they have three lovely hives managed by some of my colleagues!
Agree, their World Bee Day events were wonderful!

Ambassador Marko Ham getting hands on filling jars from the crusher!

The traditional AZ frames don't fit into a spinner, so it is the slightly messy business of cutting honeycomb out of the frames, and crushing out the honey.

An AZ Beehive

Beekeepers working on a hive

Yellow pollen on a honeycomb frame

100 jars lined up.

Harvesting #honey from one of my favourite hives today - the stunning AZ beehive at the Embassy of Slovenia. A stunning blend of art and science, and productive! Around 20kg of honey coming off. Great work #bees

Took my team axe throwing as a bonding exercise - it was fantastic.
Also, buy a break room experience for your wife. I did, and she absolutely loved it (in a slightly terrifying way).

Day two: checking the sticky mat that I placed under the screened bottom boards of the hive to check mites.
Very happy to see hundreds of dead Varroa mites, all killed by the Formic acid treatment. Formic also penetrates under the coccon caps, giving a very high kill rate (85-95%)

Dead bees at the entrance of the hive

Dead bees on the ground

Day one of Formic acid treatment on one of my hives to kill Varroa mite - always a bit confronting. Pile of dead #bees at the entrance, which is normal for this treatment.
Formic is a component of their venom, but it still stresses the colony.

I know Carmen and Mitch well - Carmen was my beekeeping mentor when I first started out, they are awesome!

Yeah, we are are seeing similar numbers for all beekeepers on the leading edge of the infestation. And this is just the phoretic mite load on the house bees.
One of the queen breeders got much higher counts from drone trapping, indicating that hatching mites are moving straight into cells.