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A single hive harvest. I have been amazed this month by one honey harvest in particular; this started as a large colony in March and I added extra boxes to accommodate the expansion. I took 20lb early in the year from the spring harvest, mainly Oil Seed honey which is […]
Honey bees swarm in a natural propagation process, creating two or more colonies from one by colony division; usually this takes place early in the summer / late spring giving both parts of the divided colony time to recover and fill their honey reserves before winter. But I had an […]
We have meandered through bee related events since Easter, tracking the seasonal forage and varied diet of honey bees and which forage is shared with bumble bees, other solitary bees, hover flies and other pollinators; all making the continuous presence of diverse seasonal food sources (forage) very important for bees, […]
So over the weeks of this season we have looked at forage for bees and pollinating insects, the development of the honey bee colony from around 10,000 bees that overwinter in a hive by consuming the stores of pollen and honey set up during the previous summer; to now as […]
June is sometimes a month of some dearth for bees between the main forage times of fruit trees and summer flowers. This month so far bees have been foraging on early blackberry, more cotoneaster, and clover is just starting and various garden flowers, including my tomatoes. In St Mary’s Towyn […]
Several events have occurred in the interval since our last item; 1. Bees continue to forage on a diverse and changing range of plant flowers. 2. We have taken an interim honey harvest. 3. I am trying to raise some queens. 4. Conwy Beekeepers Apiary meetings. 1. Bees continue to […]
We have been looking at successive plants which bees forage upon through the year with cotoneaster just ending here, fruit trees have mostly flowered and been pollinated as have Rowen, some Sycamore is still in flower, as is chestnut and blackberry is getting close to flowering. We move forward from […]
If there are bees and pollinating insects in your garden they will find Cotoneaster if you have one. The photos taken in my garden early May 2019 are a few minutes snapshot of how attractive this plant is to bees and other insects during the period of spring flowering after […]
Bees and other insects are a litmus test for our environment; fresh air, clean water, non-toxic land and diverse season round forage produces bees and other insects. In my garden over this 2019 warm and sunny Easter weekend a short look finds a number of species and events. Take Ceanothus […]
Talking about Bees. Paul talks to Cllr Barry Griffiths who he believes is the only beekeeper in Towyn and Kinmel Bay. He notes “there is a lot of interest in bees and beekeeping which is a big topic with lots of aspects”. Barry is currently chair of Conwy beekeepers Ltd […]
