DBKA is a registered educational charity.

Dartford beekeepers' first teaching apiary was sited at Bedonwell Road, Erith. We have had four sites since then and have maintained the name at our present apiary (Bedonwell Apiary).

Beekeeping has undergone many changes and beekeepers have had to adapt and learn new methods of husbandry to ensure the survival and prosperity of their charges.

The Association's objectives are to promote good beekeeping practice, recognition of disease and integrated management of hive pests.

Dartford Bee-Breeding Group is an integral part of the Association, promoting and ensuring the survival of our indigenous bee, the Dark European Honey Bee (apis mellifera mellifera). The apiary has a strong genetic pool of dark European honey bees, which is used as a mating site where members can bring queens for mating. The Association also provides queens for members raised and mated on site. This work is essential to ensure the survival of our native bee, with the imports of alien subspecies threatening their survival.

The apiary is maintained with the environment firmly in mind. We have a pond and marsh area, as honey bees need a lot of water, which is an ideal habitat for reptiles, amphibians and insects. A number of dragonflies have been sites feasting on the odd bee!

The aim of the group is to conserve and promote the Dark European Honey Bee (apis mellifera mellifera).

Less than 150 years ago the Dark European Honey Bee was the only honey bee that existed in the British Isles and most of Northern Europe. This was not by accident, but the product of a millennium of natural selection, producing a bee perfectly suited to it's environment.

Beekepers past and present, instead of working with nature, have tried to "mend something which isn't broke" by importing bees of different subspecies from around the world, totally unsuited to our environment. By mating with the indigenous bee it created a weaker bee which is more prone to disease and more aggresive. This has been generally undoing nature's good work.

Dartford Bee-Breeding Group has created and maintains an area mono-strained with the native bees (Tredegar Apiary). It is a teaching apiary and has a genetic pool. This is where like-minded beekeepers can obtain queens, and bring in queens to be mated.

Return to QED Biodiversity Group Home Page