I’ve been doing some more playing around with the Visme infographic maker and produced these as a little reminder for myself of some ‘bee maths’. Memorising the number of days it takes for an egg to hatch, the larva’s cell to be capped over and the new bee to emerge is very helpful for a beekeeper. For instance, if you see one egg at the bottom of the cell that tells you a queen has been laying eggs in the past three days (multiple eggs per cell might be either a new queen just getting started, or more likely laying workers). These two charts below were my first attempt, before I discovered a ..read more

I’ve been playing around with Visme and made this infographic, based on hive count data from the National Bee Unit. This data is based on voluntary data supplied by UK beekeepers, so is likely to be an underestimate – but it’s hard to know how much of an underestimate! To give you an idea though, the British Beekeeping Association (BBKA) say they look after “28,000” hobby beekeepers, whereas in 2022 the National Bee Unit had 11,000 beekeepers complete the hive count. There are of course also feral colonies in places like old tree trunks and chimney cavities, but not many people are counting th ..read more

It’s been a long time. A lot has happened. I’ve moved house. I’ve sold my bees, caught a swarm, given that away, nearly given up on bees completely, and then started going to meetings at my local association apiary, about twenty minutes drive away in mid-Cornwall. Back in my suit! I miss my bees and it’s been fantastic watching the bees being inspected. Two weeks ago I spotted a new queen and one of the tutors marked her in this year’s colour, red. I’ve now been asked to become a tutor myself and show complete beginners inside a hive, taking them through the basics of the differences between ..read more

A couple of months ago, I put a bait hive out in my garden. An empty National brood box, apart from a dark old brood comb pushed to one side and some lemongrass oil smeared on the walls. Then I waited. At first… nothing. But then… I saw some bees coming in and out, inspecting the empty premises. The next day, it was clear something was afoot. More and more bees could be seen around the entrance, until the air in my garden was filled with masses of humming bees. I went and stood outside, looking at the sheer number of them. You can see them against the white wall in the photos below. The swarm ..read more

Some photos of the flowers I’ve seen out and about in Cornwall and in my garden over the last couple of weeks. I like to see what’s in flower and available for the bees. Below is my miniature apple tree. I mainly see hoverflies and bumbles visiting this. Honey bees tend to favour big collections of one type of flower, so this wee tree is probably not worth it for them. One of the first bees of the year I see in my garden is the enchantingly named female Hairy-footed flower bee . I always see them on the deep blue flowers of campanula, which they will visit all day until the early evening. I s ..read more

And so we’re in 2022… another year for us… but the first and only winter for my bees. Huddled in their nest, resting their wings, winter bees tend to live longer than summer bees. But still their life-span is measured in months, not years. On any dry day this winter, my colony has continued to be active, flying and finding yellow and orange pollens. In the photo below (taken a week or so ago) I’ve found one returning with bright orange pollen. I’m not seeing much in flower, so am not sure what this might be. Possibly willow or mahonia? Gorse flowers all year round here, but I rarely see bees o ..read more

Some of my longer-term readers may remember that I had bees in my chimney stack. This had turned into a tricky problem, with quotes of £4,000+ to remove them and reseal the chimney. It wasn’t even my fault (honestly!!) as when the swarm first moved in my own bees were based around four miles away. The bees just found me. Well, I found a solution! I joined a Facebook group called UK Bee Removers. Where I then noticed a lady called Molly from Bees Off based in Cornwall. I’m so pleased to have found someone local, who could do the whole job for us. She organised all the scaffolding and rehomed th ..read more

I’d left some equipment behind in the old location I used to keep bees, and hadn’t got around to moving it yet. Some new visitors took advantage of this des res – a brood box with a few frames in, a floor, and an inspection board acting as a roof, all piled up on top of a load of empty equipment. They’re against a wall and have a hedge and trees the other side, providing shelter from the Cornish rain, and – in the last few days – the Cornish sun! I was surprised at how large a swarm it was. A couple of weeks on, the brood box is full of bees. On my first inspection, I looked for eggs but found ..read more

A few weeks ago I moved my two little colonies in nuc boxes to a new location nearer to home. I’d never had to move bees before, so asked other beekeepers for tips beforehand and as luck would have it the BBKA News that landed through my door that day had an article all about moving bees. The main thing with moving bees is make sure the bees can’t get out. Earlier in the day I had put ventilated travel screens on top of both nucs, then left their roofs resting on them just in case it rained (it didn’t). Around 9pm, as the darkness of evening was drawing in, I returned and turned the dial at th ..read more

A few weeks ago I listened into a zoom talk all about swarms by Roger Patterson. I last heard Roger speak in person almost a decade ago, back in 2012, when his talk was “Improve your bees and beekeeping – simply”. I think he’s one of the most well known beekeepers here, as he does so many talks and is very active in the beekeeping community. He has also written a book, called ‘Beekeeping – A Practical Guide’ (2012). Roger began by saying that swarms have changed: Pre 1990s, they used to be reliable: – Large prime swarms had fertile queens (unless there had been a beekeeper error) – You could ..read more