An hour with Willie Robson

Willie Robson has been a large-scale commercial beekeeper for over 60 years, working BLACK bees in the harsh Northumberland environment, where many others would have failed long ago. To be successful in these conditions you need to observe and work with the bees, developing suitable techniques, rather than taking standard ones from books that are generally written by and for beekeepers in much more favourable conditions. Willie’s father was teaching beekeeping in the Scottish Borders, where he had learned a great deal from the people he was teaching, including W W Smith, who was then the only commercial beekeeper in Scotland. Willie learned a lot about beekeeping through going round with his father.
This presentation featureS Willie answering questions and discussing topics about his beekeeping experiences.

[@MarkSwearman-vs5gg]

A great friend and neighbour. Willies throw away remarks are others pearls of wisdom. His knowledge of the fine balance of the countryside and how it works is unrivalled. A true gentleman.

[@honeybeesforsale]

Interesting. I will need to listen to that again.

[@welshblackbees]

Great chat with a ‘fireside or snug in a pub’ feeling, the sort of wise man you can’t believe you stumbled on so just sit there sipping quietly and listening hard. Anything with Roger or Jo or Carl (or any of the other great speakers they engage) is going to be good but Willie, who I’ve not heard speak live unfortunately, has a charm all of his own. I did like his comment about the loss of country skills possibly slowing picking up beekeeping skills and of treating bees with the respect due to proper livestock. Way back in 1981 my wife and I left our office jobs (all due to ‘The Good Life’ on TV 🙄) and used our experience in keeping guppies to learn to hand milk a very small herd of dairy cows, another of milking goats, to keep pigs, sheep, rabbits and poultry - and, of course, our first five hives in 1983. It was all a hard learning curve but when, after illness, I (we) began keeping and breeding from our lovely black bees again in 2020 ALL the knowledge of how to handle stock was useful and has helped in creating the lovely bees we now keep. We tried Buckfasts on four occasions - okay for a bit but then real aggression and our black bees match them in gentleness and work ethic and outperform them in several other important ways. If everyone in Britain kept black bees I honestly, truely believe beekeeping would be easier, prone to less disasters and we could breed something that, for Britain, would be the best bee strain in the world.

[@mmb_MeAndMyBees]

It was lovely to meet Willie at Chain Bridge Honey Farm. . . All of x10 Miles along the Road. Black Bees do well in the Scottish Borders. Ideally hope to get more Nucs of them in the next Bee Season. Recommend anybody to listen to Willie when he Talks about Bee Business and History. He's talking to our local Bee Association in early 2024. Will be nice to hear him talk further Bee talk. Hope to learn more from a him. He's a local legend. Most bring their Bees to the Heather near by. My Bees just need to fly out of my Garden and head up the Hill, all of x2 Miles away. Berwickshire is the place for Heather and lovely Comb Honey. . . 😎

[@mccombeesapiaries198]

I could listen to him tell stories all day😊

[@waynefaulkner3645]

My 2 favourite Beekeepers , Roger and Willie.Alot of common sense beekeeping.

[@JM-tx2fz]

excellent talk

[@nightlee11]

Better make some tea…