Those of you who read this blog and who keep bees will no doubt have heard of the name Brother Adam. In short Brother Adam was a monk of Buckfast Abbey who spent his entire life devoted to beekeeping and bee breeding. He developed the Buckfast bee and was a hugely influential figure in beekeeping circles. On his death his legacy was preserved by many breeders in Europe but in the UK he is a figure of some controversy. One school believes that only native bees should be kept (although it’s unclear how native our native bees actually are) and Brother Adam’s views and practices are anathema to them.
Others are more open minded and some have founded a Buckfast breeders group. The founders have even gone so far to re-open the famous Buckfast Dartmoor mating station and the story of that can be found if you follow the link below.
Re-activation of the Dartmoor mating station.
