WELL WHAT A MONTH

"We have lost touch with nature rather foolishly as we are a part of it, not outside it. This will in time be over and then what? What have we learned? “ (David Hockney. March 2020)

A quote from David Hockney and video with my horse may seem a strange start to a blog about the honeybees, but, it’s been a strange month.

I was out on my horse, Willow, who by the way I’ve had for nearly 26 years, (she was a mere 6 months old when I got her), and I noticed, not for the first time since lockdown, how quiet everything is without the constant rumble of planes overhead and the perpetual sound of cars somewhere in the distance. We stopped for a moment to listen to the glorious birdsong that sang out in the eerie stillness. This, I thought is how it must have been before the invention of anything mechanical. Bliss. It’s probably the only blissful thing to absorb in this turbulent time. It almost seems as if nature’s out celebrating our lockdown. The Muntjacs, who are omnipresent where I live, are out in force, there was a buzzard perched in a tree opposite my drive way this morning and even my honeybees are flying before it reaches 16º. Of course, the hardy bumble bee is merrily humming her dulcet tone, sounding like a cello with only one string, as she clumsily hovers between the flowers.

We are in lockdown, but nature carries on and thank goodness for that. Without our wonderful wild bees and honeybees we would have considerably less to put on our empty supermarket shelves this summer and autumn. And don’t just think about apples and strawberries, consider eggs. I know - eggs - about 70 out of the 100 most important food crops in the world are pollinated by bees and that includes feed given to chickens. No chickens, no eggs right? The role the bees play in the production of our meats and dairy foods is not quite as obvious as it is in the fruit and vegetables that we all enjoy. For example, many of the high-protein food sources for cattle are flowering plants that require bee pollination for seed production. A common example of cattle feeds that require bee pollination to produce seeds are clover and alfalfa.  So David Hockney is right. We have lost touch with nature, and yes foolishly so, as we are a part of it and it’s a part of us.

Before we went into lockdown my diary was brimming with bookings of forthcoming readings and events etc., and now, like most people, my wings have been clipped and I can’t travel around the schools and communities giving my talks which I so love to do. But I’m a worker bee. It’s in my DNA. So I’ve been wracking my brain to think of ways of continuing to “Create A Buzz About The Honeybees” on line.

Every week, on a Friday, I’m putting some interesting facts about the honeybees on my blog under the heading - CREATING A BUZZ… You can either read about or watch a video I’ve made and then, for fun, if you want to, enter a competition to win a signed copy of my book Betsie Valentine And The Honeybees. Nothing to lose!

Another thing I’ve started is a You Tube Chanel called “Creating A Buzz About The Honeybee” onto which I’m going to put up as many videos as I can about the honeybees. As soon as the weather gets to a temperature where the bees will come out for more than just the odd five minutes I shall be out there filming AND taking photographs. I very much hope you will visit my Chanel, Subscribe, Like and share any videos you enjoy.

One more thing this strange time has inspired me to do, with the lack of any work in the next few weeks or maybe months, is to pick up a camera again. As you may or may not know I was a professional photographer for about 25 years before retiring to promote my book. The other day I was looking for an image to put up on FB along side a post. I was going to use someone else’s image and I thought hang on a minute, I must have something of my own! I looked back in some old files and of course I did! So I’ve decided to resurrect a little camera I bought just after I retired and haven’t used (I sold my professional one and bought one I could carry around with me anywhere). I’ve been extremely lazy and been using my phone’s camera but now I’m going to blow off the cobwebs that have accumulated on my new one from underneath my desk and see what I can do with it. Watch this space.

The image to the right was, incidentally, taken on my iphone!

I did my first hive inspections last weekend when the weather managed to crawl up to 17º. It was exciting to see my girls properly for the first time since late autumn. During the winter I’ve hefted them to make sure they have enough stores and in January I gave them all fondant icing. Although they had more then enough of their own food, that didn’t mean that they’d use it. If the cluster of bees that surround the queen in the winter aren’t near their stores, they won’t go and get them because they’ll get cold and die and it’s their job to stay around the queen to keep her warm and fed. So we have a quick, and I mean quick peak to see where they are in the brood box and put a special fondant icing above the cluster so they can access it easily. My bees had taken the fondant icing and are now on their second batch which I’ll soon remove. Imagine my delight when I saw that all three hives have weathered the winter and terrible storms we’ve had recently. And not just weathered, but doing well. Even the hive I had doubts about in earlier blogs. Below are some images from said hive that I took during that first inspection. The first image shows how many bees are covering 8 out of 11 frames which is a very good start. In the middle image you can see the pollen they’ve been collecting and, of course, spot the queen in the last one! A beauty and busy laying like crazy. Four frames of brood and loads of eggs. All three hives are like this but this hive is particularly lovely and quiet.

PAY ATTENTION FOLKS... this is about the extraordinary act of kindness from a friend.

A couple of weeks ago, just before self isolation, I was in a pub with some of my fellow beekeepers when I turned to one of them, Gerwyn, and told him of my plight: I had several events at various branches of Waterstones coming up and I wanted to put up a WBC hive in their Windows, along side my books to draw more attention in. Now for those in the know, a WBC hive is a mighty object so I needed someone to make something up for me out of cardboard or 'something.' Now, Gerwyn is an exceptionally talented and creative chap and throw in kindhearted, gracious and thoughtful and you may have half the picture I intend to draw of him. This is the text I received yesterday and photographs...

"High Meriet - a little story - starting with both sides of the beer mat from The Crown, Ley Hill. My sketch on one side and a very apt "A call for help" on the other! Here are the photos of the three finished products - ready for collection whenever our new Covid-19 world allows. Cheers Gerwyn."

I'm speechless.

I’m going to get so much use out of these, outside of the Waterstones events. They are incredible, amazing, wonderful and any other adjective you can come up with. I cannot thank him enough. Really.

I always like to end on a joyous note, (as if Gerwyns wonderful hives aren’t joyous enough), so I thought I’d leave you with some of the pictures David Hockney attached to his letter to the BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz. Why? They make me smile, think of spring and look forward to seeing my bees on a regular basis. And some of his final words… "The only real things in life are food and love in that order” Well… it’s the honeybees that bring us our food… Take care….