🐝 Oh beehave!

Plus: Parasite mites and 35mm snaps.

Author

Jacob Wallace
June 12, 2026

⏱️ This Friday edition of our newsletter is a six-minute read.

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

It’s been another busy week here at the Monitor covering Gippsland.

Driving around the region, I often pull over to take a few snaps of Gippsland’s landscape. I recently had some 35mm film rolls developed and particularly enjoyed this one of the hills around Loch - if you look closely you can see black cows dotted on top.

👀 Looking ahead. In this week’s newsletter we’re talking about:

  • 🐝 Ulysses and his chilled Leongatha bees;

  • ☣️ The destructive parasitic mite threatening Gippsland’s bees, and;

  • ⛔️ Do we need greater restriction on nitrous oxide?

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

🚀 Alright, let’s jump into the Monitor’s latest yarns!

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🐝 Ulysses and his chilled Leongatha bees

The Monitor spent an afternoon at apiarist Ulysses de Vincentis' home in Leongatha chatting about hives, swarms and honey collection.

“The bees are really chilled,” de Vincentis said. “They'll be bringing pollen back into the hive. They're super organised. You go and pull out the frames, and if you've got a sort of a gentle approach to it, the bees are generally pretty relaxed.”

Take a look at part of the video interview below.

☣️ Gippsland beekeepers prepare to deal with an invasive parasite the size of a pin head

Leongatha beekeeper Ulysses de Vincentis is bracing for signs of the Varroa Destructor, which has been detected in hives in Mirboo North, and could wipe out bee colonies across the region.

The invasive pest has been decimating hives in Europe and America for decades and was first detected in bee colonies in Newcastle, north of Sydney, in June 2022.

In May this year, a beehive in Mirboo North was confirmed to have the bug.

Take a look at a video explainer about the mite below.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

Should Australia implement greater restrictions on nitrous oxide?

My colleague Archie Milligan spoke to a former nitrous oxide - or nang - addict about his experience being on the substance and how it makes him sick seeing the drug so readily available.

Take a look at part of the interview below.

Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this issue of our newsletter and we’d love to hear from you.

📧 Reach out. If you have a story in your town that you think is being underreported then feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected].

I’ll be back in your inbox next week with more Gippsland yarns, informative videos and pictures of the region.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team

🤳 If you’re not already subscribed, you can keep up to date with everything we’re reporting on at the Gippsland Monitor on these platforms:
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
or our website