Christmas is one of the four quarter days which mark the changing of the seasons.
The four quarter days are:
They all approximately coincide with either an equinox or a solstice.
Installing a remote hive monitoring system should give the armchair beekeeper some measure of comfort – especially in a cold spring when opening hives is out of the question. However, it ain’t necessarily so! Continue reading Remote hive monitoring in action
Since installing the Arnia hive monitors two weeks ago the following reassuring data has come in.
Click it for a close up:
So what does this tell us?
Well it tells me I don’t have to worry just yet. Here’s why: Continue reading Arnia Remote Hive Monitoring Data
Are you the sort of person that stares out at the sheeting rain and thinks ‘Global warming – ha!’
Well the globe is certainly heating up, but not here at the wet end of Europe so forget long sunny days and a grape vine in the garden; for us, climate change means the same old stuff – wind and rain – but more of it.
But how will climate change affect our bees? Continue reading Honey Bees and Climate Change
Lovely sunny day – 14 degrees and slack winds – a perfect day for spring bees looking for pollen.
Here’s a hectic picture of lots of pollen hurtling into the scale hive today.
Click the photo for a better view.
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For anybody thinking about getting bees, an important consideration is – where to put them?
There is no perfect site for bees but there are points to consider – some affect the summering and some affect the wintering. It’s all swings and roundabouts (or snakes and ladders) with bees. Continue reading Bee Basics – Apiary Site
It’s December, eight degrees C and the bees are very busy – quite a loud hum out there. The ivy is still flowering and there is the usual horrible smell if you stand anywhere near it so we have to assume the bees are still working it. And they have the car windscreen well spattered with bee dung – fortunately I didn’t have any washing out but then who does in December?
They’re all over the Mahonia as well.
How do people get through winter without bees!
I am often asked whether my honey has been heated. The people who ask this want me to tell them that the honey is never heated. Often they ask the question because they are concerned about the enzymes and because they think that heat will destroy the enzymes in honey. They are partly right but enzymes and honey are more robust than people may realise. Continue reading Enzymes in Honey
