Cormac (Bee guy)
@jagungal
Head beekeeper, Australian Parliament. Environmental scientist, cat lover, Japanese jujitsu black belt. Kinda nerdy. Urban Beekeeping - The City as a Hive in bookshops now!
Yeah, they are very much a priority species to keep out! Japanese beekeepers keep their apiaries behind nets to protect them from the hornets - got to see a hornet up close last week in Tokyo!
Spent several hours surrounded by the sublime beauty of this 17th century #garden in the heart of Tokyo. These days the Koishikawa Korakuen garden also protect the headwaters and ancient springs feeding urban rivers. Absolutely magical.
This is the key sign that you are living in a #judo share house - endless racks of drying laundry! 🤣😂
Kodokan Summer techniques course done for 2026! Always a tough week, a very full five days of intensive #judo but well worth it!
Tough day on the mats, but well worth it - Tokyo was 36 degrees and 80% humidity as we were instructed by a former all-Japan #judo champion.
Finishing day 3 of the Kodokan summer camp. Over 5 hours of #judo, 35 degrees C and 80% humidity - still alive (just) 🥵
Taking part in the Kodokan summer course this week. This brings people together from all over the world at the original #judo dojo in Tokyo for a full week of expert instruction.
Back in the neon jungle! Tokyo is one of my favourite cities, so much fun to be here.
The original decision under national environment laws protected the remnant vegetation, but gave the farmers more freedom to manage the rest of the property, and Ian and Kate McCamley have done a fantastic job of this. Don't let anyone tell you that well-designed legislation doesn't work!
Wrapping up a few days in the field doing farm visits with my team at National EPA. One part had personal significance - in the early days of the EPBC Act I helped organise a referral to protect this patch of remnant Brigalow, an endangered ecological community. It is still there, 22 years later!
Emerald trying to be a shoulder parrot. Definitely taking the piss, but so cute 😍🤣
That was really fun - today I was a guest instructor at the grading day for one of the local martial arts clubs. They like to get guest instructors from other styles along to their gradings, which is such a great idea!
Day one of the new National Environment Protection Agency! share.google/0Gh3tWduy8nL...
Meant to be winter here in Australia, but the unseasonably warm conditions have my #bees acting like it is spring!
One of my pet hates is fishers who leave lures and like that entangles wildlife - like this Black Swan from tbis morning. This poor thing had its bill stuck shut with a fishing lure. Luckily I had a friend to hold the bird strady while I freed it - hopefully no major harm done. Pick up your gear!
We got our final bill from our old power company - you can see the instant the new solar + battery system started to kick in. Sitting here with the washing machine running, in a toasty warm house, all running on sunshine. Modern technology is the best!
The cool thing about #beekeeping is how much it connects you to the landscape. These are local street trees, and they are rapidly forming flower buds. When these blossom in spring (Sep-Nov here) it means a sudden influx of nectar, which will stimulate swarming unless I take action!
This dead male bee on the doorstep of one of the Parliament hives tells me something as a #beekeeper: The hive has finally accepted that winter is here, and have killed all the males to conserve energy as they hunker down with their honey.
Bitter-sweet visit today to one of my favourite trout streams when I was a teenager. Still beautiful, but horribly empty of life. Global heating has not been kind to this stream ☹️
One of my favourite Australian birds was happily feeding near my work over the past few days - a beautiful, and cheeky bird full of personality!
Definitely a strange autumn so far, still feels way too warm. Several trees Like this Red Ironbark and Argyle Apple are out in blossom months early - they clearly think it is spring as well.
Celebrating World Bee Day with the Canberra Region Beekeepers - this is Mark and Charlie (Parliament beekepers) with Professor Saul Cunningham, a research leader in native bees. A fascinating talk on how we should approach conservation of native #bees
Celebrating world #bee day early at the Canberra Farmers Market this morning. Loved doing honey tastings with samples from all over Australia and the world.
Just over one week to go before World Bee Day, so it was time to put together some wildflower seed bombs! These are a fun and easy way to put some #bee friendly colour into your garden - I included the recipe in my book, and we will be handing these out at the Canberra Farmers Market on Saturday!
We are meant to be heading into winter, but it seems that nobody told the #bees - going after some Ironbark blossom that is out at the moment.
Silver in Judo veterans heavyweight today at a local competition. We actually had veterans matches!
The colonies have had some Varroa mites, but the treatment seems to have been effective! Lovely gentle bees, and healthy brood = happy beekeeper!
