About me
John the beekeeper
I have been a beekeeper since 2011 and like all beekeepers am always learning. Since retiring as a doctor, I have become an enthusiastic beekeeper, fascinated by the honey bee. I'm also a committed environmentalist and see that beekeeping helps to contribute to improving and maintaining the environment. Bees are very important pollinators and massively important to the diversity of the local flora.
I have nine hives as we go into 2020, I maintain some of these on land at my home but also have some hives in Priorwood Gardens in Melrose. I also have some hives on a farm near St Boswells.
In 2019 my bees produced 500lbs of honey which was either sold locally or given away to friends. I was also able to produce some nucleus (starter) colonies for new beekeepers.
I was secretary of the Scottish Beekeepers Association from 2015 - 2018 and am now the Chair of the Borders Beekeepers Association. In conjunction with others, I help run the Beginners courses. We have currently suspended courses for the duration of the pandemic, but if you would like to be alerted to when these are starting up, please email us here
I give talks about bees and beekeeping around the borders to varying groups and am happy to come to meetings to talk about bees and beekeeping for a small fee to cover my expenses.