Meon Valley Beekeepers

Winter Talk (Warnford)
2025-11-06 19:00 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
The Bee Head in Detail – James Donaldson

A complementary talk to the ‘full body’ one given to Winchester beekeepers in October. This session sees James focus in on the head of a bee, guiding us through a live dissection and explaining just what we’re looking at. A fascinating insight into the micro-world of our bee’s anatomy,

Winter Talk (Zoom)
2025-10-23 19:00 - 21:00
Rational Varroa Control – David Evans
Varroa remains the greatest threat to bees and beekeeping. The mite, and the viruses it transmits, are responsible for most overwintering colony losses. To avoid these mite levels must be minimised. This presentation discusses some of the science behind why Varroa and viruses are a threat to our bees before moving on to practical beekeeping considerations including how and when to control Varroa in your hives. Many beekeepers treat at the wrong time of the season, or use the wrong treatment, for maximal effect. In addition to a late summer and midwinter treatment (which should be all that are needed for successful Varroa management) the opportunities to treat in the middle of the season, the importance of managing Varroa in swarms and the strategic, landscape-scale, management of Varroa are also discussed.

Zoom details within the members area

National Honey Show
2025-10-23 08:00 - 2025-10-26 17:00 | Sandown Park Racecourse, Portsmouth Road, Esher, KT10 9AJ, United Kingdom

SSS Day - Wax Processing (£5)
2025-10-11 10:00 - 15:00 | Meon Hall, Meonstoke, Pound Lane, Meonstoke, Hampshire, SO32 3NP, United Kingdom

Wax Day
2025-10-11 09:00 - 17:00 | Meon Hall, Meonstoke, Pound Lane, Meonstoke, Hampshire, SO32 3NP, United Kingdom
More details will be posted shortly.

Bereleigh Show
2025-09-14 09:30 - 17:00 | Bereleigh Estate, GU32 1PH
Bereleigh Estate, East Meon Near Petersfield, GU32 1ES
Sunday 14th September 2025 – Gates Open 9.30am

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Alresford Show/MVBKA Honey Show
2025-09-06

Seasonal Skill Session
2025-08-17 10:00 - 12:00
Join us for our next skill session led by our local bee inspector — a fantastic opportunity to meet her and learn directly from the expert! She’ll be covering how to carry out brood disease inspections, a timely and valuable topic as hives start to contract and may be united before winter.
🗓️ When: 10am📍 Where: Our training apiary
Whether you’re new to beekeeping or have years under your belt, this is a session you won’t want to miss! 🌼🐝 #Beekeeping #BroodInspection #BeeHealth #SeasonalSkills

HBA Spring Convention and Honey Show
2025-07-30 | Sparsholt College, Sparsholt College Hampshire, Westley Ln, Sparsholt, Winchester SO21 2NF, SO21 2NF, United Kingdom
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampshire-beekeepers-association-honey-show-convention-2025-tickets-1435085221529?aff=oddtdtcreator

Kidstreet Bishop's Waltham
2025-07-06

Meonstoke Fete
2025-07-05

Maintence Monring
2025-06-12 10:00 - 12:00

MVBKA Annual Auction
2025-05-03 | Greatham Village Hall, Petersfield Road, Greatham, Hampshire, GU33 6EY., United Kingdom

Bee Health clinic
2025-04-27 10:00 - 13:30 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
Join us at Warnford for this drop-in style event. Bring along a sample of 30 dead bees and get them tested for nosema, and bring a few more to try out an acarine dissection. All equipment can be provided and training will be given in using the microscopes and what you need to do to keep your bees healthy as the season begins.

Winter Meeting (Warnford)
2025-04-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
Our last winter talk of the season will be given by Dylan Gussman, on the theme of a colony murder mystery. We will find out about working out the cause of colony collapse and how to prevent this happening in the future.

BBKA Modular Exams
2025-03-22 09:00 - 12:30, 2024-11-16 09:00 - 12:00

Winter Meeting (Warnford)
2025-03-06 19:30 - 21:00 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
Come along to one of our in-person winter meetings where we will hear Brad Davies talk about honey show judging. He will give a live honey and wax judging demonstration. Brad was the judge for our honey show in 2024 so come along and learn where you went wrong!

Winter Meeting (Itchen Abbas)
2025-02-11 19:30 - 21:00 | Itchen Abbs Village Hall, Main Road, Itchen Abbas, Winchester SO21 1BQ, SO21 1BQ, United Kingdom
Professor Lars Chittka will be talking in-person about The Mind of a Bee. This is a joint event with Winchester BKA so we hope you will be able to join us.

Winter Meeting (Zoom)
2025-01-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom
Lynne Ingram will be talking about Honey Fraud and what we can do to look out for it. This talk will be online, and you can find joining details on our members area.

Christmas Party and AGM
2024-12-05 19:30 - 21:00 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
We look forward to seeing you at our annual Christmas party. Come along and catch up with beekeeping friends! Bring a plate of food to share.

Winter Meeting (Zoom)
2024-11-14 19:30 - 21:00
Join us online to hear Stewart Spinks from Norfolk Honey Company who will be talking about Beekeeping fails. Joining details found in our members area.

Winter Meeting (Itchen Abbas)
2024-10-08 19:30 - 21:00 | Itchen Abbs Village Hall, Main Road, Itchen Abbas, Winchester SO21 1BQ, SO21 1BQ, United Kingdom
The Dancing Bees – a Zoom talk by Jim Vivian-Griffiths.
Itchen Abbas Village Hall, Tuesday 8th October 19.30

Jim will be looking at the story of Karl von Frisch who won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for discovering the waggle dance back in the late 20’s and discussing more recent work on this from other big honeybee observers including Martin Lindauer and Tom Seeley.

Jim qualified as a Master Beekeeper in 2014, winning the Wax Chandlers Award and then becoming a Certified FIBKA Lecturer in 2015. He is also a BBKA assessor for Basic and General Husbandry. Living in Monmouth, running some 30 colonies with his wife, Val (also a Master Beekeeper) he is now in his 10th year as trainer for Dean Forest BKA, running courses for the Basic Assessment, Microscopy and Module Examinations.

HBA Autumn Convention and Honey Show
2024-10-06 | Sparsholt College, Sparsholt College Hampshire, Westley Ln, Sparsholt, Winchester SO21 2NF, SO21 2NF, United Kingdom
Tickets and more information can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampshire-beekeepers-association-honey-show-convention-2024-tickets-859750596177

Winter Meeting (Zoom)
2024-10-03 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom
Join us online for a talk by Master Beekeeper Margaret Murdin who will be talking about prepping your bees for winter. Joining details can be found in the members area of the website.

Alresford Show
2024-09-07
If you are able to volunteer at this show at our stand please get in touch.

Seasonal Skill Saturday: Winter Preperations
2024-08-24 11:00 - 13:30 | MVBKA Apiary
Join us at our training apiary for a session covering all things overwintering. We will talk about what colonies require to successfully overwinter, methods to prepare a colony for the best survival chances, and also cover certain manipulations to set up a hive correctly. After a bit of discussion and dry run-throughs, you will go into the colonies to assess them for overwintering suitability before deciding what needs to be done with each of these. Specific things to be covered include:

Feeding
Uniting
Disease inspections
Varroa control
Pests such as wasps and mice

Apiary Day
2024-08-08 10:00 - 15:00, 2024-07-11 10:00 - 15:00 | MVBKA Apiary
Join us for a day at the apiary. These comprise of a morning of maintenance, a social lunch, and then hive inspections in the afternoon. You can come for the entire day (10am-3pm) or choose just one of these parts to join us for. All members are welcome and we really appreciate the time you can spare to help out at the association. These sessions are also great to meet other members.

Honey Bee Health Assessment Weekend
2024-07-20 10:00 - 2024-07-21 16:00 | MVBKA Apiary
