Hi I've been keeping bee's since 2007 near the sea in the North West of England. Apart from a couple of years without any following a very wet winter here when I lost the two colonies I had at the time.
Last July I managed to get a late nucleus from a local beekeeper with a local black bee project Queen in it. As I was taught on Nationals all my kit is still nationals.
Although I've been keeping bees for years, it's always been on a very small scale (max abt 6 hives), so I feel very much a newbie still. I'm hoping to expand out to atleast a dozen colonies over the next 12 months as I've now got the opportunity for a couple of out apiaries.