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Gloucestershire Beekeepers Association

A warm welcome to Gloucestershire Beekeepers Association (GBKA). New members of all ages and experience are welcome to join us.

GBKA is a registered charity with the principal objective of promoting and furthering the craft of beekeeping. GBKA has been doing this for over 100 years and has members from all over Gloucestershire and its neighbouring counties.

GBKA is a member organisation of the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA), the national organisation that provides a wide range of services to beekeepers including insurance, information, newsletters, examination programmes and legal advice.

The seven Branches of GBKA support beekeepers in their area and run their own programmes of meetings, talks, and training sessions. GBKA members can attend the meetings of any Branch.

Events

May 25

Friday 9th
19:30
Alternative approaches to beekeeping by Fred AyresC&G BKA, Uckington Village Hall, GL51 9SR

June 25

Friday 13th
Sunday 15th
Royal Three Counties ShowThe Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR13 6NW

News

  • Royal Three Counties Show 2025

    Online entry to the Royal Three Counties Honey Show is now available (closing date May 14th). The theme for this year’s Bees & Honey Show is ‘Honey & Health’ organised by Herefordshire on behalf of the three counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Read more…

  • GBKA 2025 Spring Lecture Day, County Honey Show and AGM

    Saturday, February 22nd. Hosted by the South Gloucestershire Beekeepers Association at Hawkesbury Upton Village Hall,  GL9 1AU. This year we have three exciting talks from two speakers (Professor Francis Ratnieks and Brigit Strawbridge) covering the Ivy Bee, integrated Varroa control and the life cycle of our native bumblebees and solitary bees. Read more….

Asian Hornet Sightings

2025

Updated 16/4/25

GBKA Asian Hornet Action Teams

  • At the start of 2025 two single Asian Hornets were captured. One in Oswestry (January) and one in Canterbury (March).

Do you have land suitable for bees or an apiary?

If so please contact your local GBKA association secretary here.

National Bee Unit News

  • Please report sightings of Yellow-legged hornets (YLH), also known as Asian hornets, on this online form or download the free Asian hornet Watch app for Apple devices or android devices. As of 16/05/2025: 19 credible yellow-legged hornet sightings have been reported in the UK in 2025.  2 nests have been found. To view the location of […]
  • Over 9,500 beekeepers updated their details on BeeBase during the 2024 hive count compared to over 8,500 in 2023.  The 2024 hive count produced a figure of 252,647 colonies in the UK. This is slightly higher than the 2023 figure of 252,577. Responses indicated there was a decrease of 0.2 hive per beekeeper on average, […]

BBKA News

  • Projects which the BBKA has supported in the past and which have now been completed are listed here:   Gema Martin-Ordas, University of Stirling: Towards an understanding of how pollution affects bee cognition – a pilot study Dr Maria Clara Castellanos, University of Sussex: Journal of Pollinator Ecology – support to enable open access publication of […]
  • Dr R Vinkenoog & Catherine Baldock; Northumbria University Quantifying the importance of tree floral resources for pollinators in urban landscapes. Mr Wurm; Queen Mary University of London Use of molecular medicine for early and effective diagnostics and monitoring of honeybee health. Dr Richard Gill, Imperial College London Are pesticide impacts on honey bee metabolic rate, […]
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  • World Bee Day World Bee Day is 20th May.  The public can help bees by planting bee friendly plants in their gardens and encouraging their councils to plant wildflower meadows and leave grass verges to allow wildflowers to bloom.  Here in the UK May is a busy time for beekeepers who are tending their bees and watching them progress into strong colonies […]
  • If you wish to have your course/event listed here then please email the details to:  bbka@bbka.org.uk
  • 2025 Award The Acoustic Signature of Asian Hornets Sophie E Gray being presented her certificate by Prof. Steve Martin Sophie is an undergraduate, School of Engineering at the University of Southampton Congratulations to all who were awarded BBKA travel awards to attend. Seven researchers presented their topics very professionally. The judges had a difficult decision, but agreed […]