BBKA Forum

HAZEL !! OMG. It finished here mid January. Willow is just starting to open and Hawthorn is showing green tips. Our winters are far too warm here now and spring too cold. Had our first true frost of this winter on Mon night. So much flowering early due to warm winter but spring too cold for the bees to get to a lot of it, its March and the winds of death have arrived. Bees were gathering more pollen in Jan and Feb than now. I will be moving some colonies back to my inland apiary in a week or so, it was a game changer last year. Crab apple in full flower near me as well.

Some big patches of OSR around the county starting to bloom hard
Thankfully none in range of my boxes- I could do without that hassle at the moment.
Plenty of yellow pollen splattered on the landing boards keeping the corpses company so all seems to be going to plan.

Visited a client yesterday who was next to paddock with 72 single brood polys.
I didn't get a good look to see how many were occupied but I know they've only been there since Autumn.
The whole area was commercial fruit tree territory until around two years ago when most orchards were grubbed up.
Surely that's a lot of bees for what's left?

Alfred wrote: ↑

13 Mar 2022, 12:31

Visited a client yesterday who was next to paddock with 72 single brood polys.
I didn't get a good look to see how many were occupied but I know they've only been there since Autumn.
The whole area was commercial fruit tree territory until around two years ago when most orchards were grubbed up.
Surely that's a lot of bees for what's left?

Far too many in my opinion. Usual maxim ism 8 hives and see if if it's a good enough site to take more. You need some forage to service 72 hives....assuming they are all owner occupied.
Only place I go above 8 is on the moors where they have nothing but heather (forage) for miles in each direction and my back garden for overwintering...before they get moved onto fields of OSR. Love the stuff

I'm wondering how things might change with Bladder the Puddings antics in the east.
We won't be importing so much of his wheat or things like linseed so will our forage sources change to suit.

Lots of blossom on the hedge trees (prunus species) and OSR is starting to flower a few miles inland, but it's not ready on the coast yet which is not a bad thing as I would like colonies to be bigger before it gets in full flow.
Last year we had cool weather whilst the OSR was flowering so I got very little of it.

Having been to Edinburgh at the weekend on the train OSR is well in flower all along the North East coast and around me and its all over the place here this year It really does spoil the lovely dark honey from the woods and hedgerows. Blackthorn almost finished in a lot of areas, cherry in bud, willow and dandelions in flower which usually invites Stockton Borough Council to do some ecological destruction to the local pollinating community.

Mick you will have past my hives if you took the east coast line..the rape around here is not in flower though..

Bees working the willow for pollen today. Everything is coming into bloom and hopefully the weather will now cooperate.

Lovely shot.

Touring the county today it seems 70% of the available land is screaming yellow oilseed
I saw three bumblebees all day -that's it
13© top temp it didn't have the slightest whiff.
With the problems in Ukraine it could be back on the priorities for UK arable agriculture.