I personally visited family in Brisbane recently and was interesting to observe a lot of bee activity in the big smoke, two eduction hives I set up down there in late January were inspected, one of which was disconnected and relocated to my daughters house for the grandchildren to monitor. The other we will continue to monitor. Interestingly while out checking these, I came across two
more very active hives in the same small bush area on the school grounds, one of which drew the attention of my grandson with a bearded dragon on top of a stump. On closer inspection we identified a hive entrance with lots of activity below. I have had some discussions with school staff about setting up a native bee program with them as part of their environmental education.
Whilst in Brisbane I took the opportunity to visit the residence of Bill Kraft where he gave me the Royal Tour of his ever-increasing collection and showed me what he is doing with box development. Of particular interest was his vertical observation hives, one of which I have agreed to populate with an AA brood
If that was not enough, my granddaughters Day Care Centre had a hive that had failed, so after discussing with Dr Tim, have removed it and connected it up as an eduction to hopefully revive it.
Barney Point Eductions
Back in late February I was called to the Barney Point Units where the staff were concerned about native bees swarming around two of the units. Upon inspection I dis-covered what looked like a mating swarm at two hives in the galvanized stringers of the steps to the units. After convincing them they were harmless and worth preserving I decided to connect eduction boxes up to both. I checked on it recently and observed a large swarm out-side unit 54 so decided it was time to act and after 30 weeks I have now removed this box with a full brood, the other one at unit 55 is not so advanced and will continue to monitor its progress. This has been a really good education process for the residents about native bees
Water Meter Rescues and Fostering Program – John Starr
Hoping for Doug Stephan to provide an update on the ANBA #1 Foster Hive placement at Calliope Community Garden. Doug is also is also involved with the Garden Club and will no doubt give it all the attention and care needed for it to develop and support the garden
Hives #2 and #3 are progressing well and should be ready for fostering out soon
Unfortunately, our #4 hive did not survive the transfer from the water meter box for some reason, I guess 3 out of 4 aint bad.
Boyne Island Environmental Education Centre (BIEEC) Observation hive
As reported in previous issue this hive has been connect-ed up to a log hive and on inspection have observed a lot of structure building and activity so time will tell
Quoin Island Marine Turtle Rehab Centre Visit
Unfortunately, due to adverse weather conditions fore-cast for the planned visit it had to be postponed until a later date. All was not lost however and at very short notice an impromptu education session was organized with a much smaller group of students at CQ Uni STEM Central
Travelers Rest Caravan Park and Camping Agnes Water / 1770
I recently called in to visit Michael and Michaela to check on native bee hives I have placed there to become part of their Bush Tracks tour they conduct through the property. They have very recently commissioned a boardwalk through the native bushland making it an all-weather access and the bees will now be an integral part of this. Currently we have 5 hives including two observation hives and we are planning on increasing this soon. If visiting the area, make an effort to visit this magic location and enjoy the pleasant surroundings
From Ian Anderson
For more info on branch activities, visit our Facebook page ANBA Gladstone Branch, https://www.facebook.com/groups/480678232538075
