April 2011
What an unusual month March has been! Some days were like summer, what with the warm sun and the windless days – I am sure the day of reckoning is not far...
March 2011
The temperatures over the past month have become a little warmer than earlier and the bees have been taking full advantage of this. They are flying out on the less windy days...
February 2011
As I reported last month, the weather has not, in the main, been conducive to bees flying. However, we have had one or two warmer days when the bees have been out...
January 2011
Well, what a month! Whilst we (locally) managed to escape the worst consequences of the cold weather, with very little snow (and temperatures that were positively tropical compared with parts of the...
December 2010
Well, our bees are certainly not flying much in this current bout of freezing weather – though only last week, with a temperature of 3° or 4° C, one of my hives...
November 2010
Well, at last the autumn days are with us. The clocks have gone back and the trees are losing their leaves more rapidly each day, though the temperatures are still relatively high...
October 2010
At long last, the ivy honey flow has started, in some areas near the coast round about the beginning of September. This was after about 3 to 4 weeks of absolute nectar...
September 2010
Well, the honey crops should all have been removed by now and treatment of the bees for Varroa – the parasitic mite that can kill bees in 2 to 3 years if...
August 2010
August, unlike July, can be a busy month for beekeepers. Generally, the bees no longer want to swarm (unless they are kept really short of space). The queen’s laying rate is reducing...