Little did I know when I decided to use this quote for my header that I would find it so hard to determine its true author. It’s been attributed to the Bard himself - William Shakespeare, Philosopher - George Santayana - and Poet - Reginald Vincent Holmes. However, as a beekeeper and all round nature lover I shall worry not about who wrote it for it is true! You only have to stand in your garden on a beautiful summers day and listen to the earth sing with the gentle hum of the insects beating their wings while flitting from flower to flower. Follow their song and there you will find them deep within the base of the flower collecting nectar… or balancing delicately upon the anther packing the baskets on their back legs with pollen. All of this, without their knowledge, so our plants will bloom again next year. What they’re doing is for the continuance of their own species, little do they know how much they are doing for our survival.

My header picture does little justice to the beautiful wild flower border that emcompasses the entrance to my neighbours’ house. It’s an array of delicate, brightly coloured wild flowers that make my heart sing every time I walk past. Of course I cannot but help myself lean in to see who’s in amongst the flowers and take the odd snap here and there. Once a photographer, always a photographer!

You’re unlikely to see a honeybee in there as the honeybees prefer swathes of flowers. Why? On any single trip the honey bee will forage on only one kind of flower, hence they need a swathe of flowers as they live in such large colonies. You’re more likely to find them - in abundance - deep within the lavender, hawthorne, and blackberry bushes to name but a few. They’ll keep going to one particular flower until they’ve taken all that the blooms have to offer. This is nature’s way of assuring cross-pollination. Once they’ve exhausted a particular flower they’ll move on to another.

If you want to know what flowers to plant for the honeybees - where and when - “Planting for Honeybees” by Sara Wyndham Lewis is a wonderful book. I know I’ve mentioned this book before and if you haven’t already done so I suggest you take a look at it.

July has been hot! And the bees have been reacting accordingly!

As you know, from my last blog, I now have four hives. Much more manageable. Challis has two and a Nuc. I went up to do my normal hive check. Did I say normal? Let’s just go with hive check and - yay - 3 queens and an open queen cell in Hive No. 2. This meant that taking a frame of eggs from Hive No. 5, during my last hive check, and putting it in Hive No. 2 had worked. They’d made a queen. Oh what glee, what joy, what bliss. The weather had turned super hot so no excuse for her not to get mated. Five days later, a phone call from Challis, to say she thought one of my hives had swarmed. Noooooo…. it could only have been No. 5. No 3 and 1 aren’t that big and 2 had an open queen cell. I went straight up to the Apiary and man oh man there was a huge swarm wrapped around some large branches in a tree. Challis had to go out so I was left to my own devices. I thought it would be quite a good opportunity to video collecting the swarm, but I’m afraid I didn’t get that much recorded as the phone kept falling down and my eye had to be on the swarm not my phone. But there was enough there to cobble together a little something for you to see so you can get a pretty good idea of how it’s done. It was a big swarm so quite hard work and very hot! While I sat watching them go into their new hive, which is always fascinating, I actually spotted the queen on the front of the roof. In a state of utter excitement at seeing her amongst all those bees, I went off to look for my phone which I’d abandoned goodness knows where because I wanted to take a photo of this momentous sighting. By the time I goty back she’d scurried away out of sight! The hive was full of fresh foundation, so the bees would have to use the honey they have stored in their tummies, in preparation for the swarm, with the wax they produce to build out the comb. You don’t feed a swarm for a couple of days, because, although this one almost certainly was from Hive No. 5, they could have been from another apiary which may have diseases and therefore you want them to use up all the honey they’ve bought with them to build out the comb and not for nutrition. Then you feed them to give them the energy they need to get the colony going.

Next day I went up to check they were still there… No. After all that they’d flown away. This does happen… not a lot…. but it does. Clearly the Scout Bee’s had found somewhere more inviting. I was gutted. Such a large swarm to have lost and nice bees too. I only hope someone found them, but I doubt it because a swarm of bees only moves twice. First to get out of the hive and there they stay until the Scouts find them a permanent home. Catching the swarm and re-hiving them saves them the bother, but it doesn’t always work. I checked Hive No. 5 and sure as eggs are eggs (or should I say honeybees swarm,) there was an open queen cell and several others to boot. How did I miss those? Urch… On the up side, I still only have four hives. Ultimately nature will do what it will. You cannot make honeybees do what you want them to do. They are, fundamentally, wild creatures after all!

As you all know, I’ve moved from the beautiful Chilterns in Buckinghamshire to Herefordshire, which is really proving to be a box of delights. When I moved here within two weeks we were back in Lockdown so there wasn’t an opportunity to go out and explore or meet any new people for that matter. I really do feel that I haven’t been here as long as I actually have, as it’s only now that the true beauty of where I live is unfolding. Every week I discover new and lovely places. It’s like being on an extended holiday! Since arriving, I’ve been wanting to visit Hay-on-Wye, a little town just inside the Welsh border - about 40 minutes from where I live. Famous for having bookshops every which way you turn and an annual Literary Festival celebrating all things related to books! I would love to be a part of the festival and, of course, see if any book shops would be interested in stocking “Betsie Valentine And The Honeybees.” So it was with that in mind - one hot sunny morning - I decided to pay it a visit. I set out later than anticipated which left me having to have a whirlwind tour around the town before choosing which book shop to approach first. One of the shops I’d gone in to was called The Annex. I’d had a lovely chat with to two ladies about Hay-on-Wye and the reason for my visit. They told me to go to Addyman Books and speak to Anne - the owner. I didn’t want to jump through a door completely uninitiated so I found a lovely cafe, sat outside enjoying the sunshine with a cup of tea and Googled Addyman Books and “The best book shops in Hay-on-Wye.” The one that kept coming up top of the list, with rave reviews, was indeed Addyman Books. They have three shops in H-on-W, Addyman Books, The Annex, (hence the ladie’s suggestion), and Murder Mayhem. So, after my cup of tea I moseyed on up to said Addyman Books. What an incredible place it is too. Original and distinct from all the others and, indeed, from any bookshop I’ve been in before. An Aladdin’s cave of a shop. Wonderful quirky interior andvwith each genre of book given its own room!

Long story short, Anne loved Betsie and now has signed copies in stock! I cannot tell you how thrilled I am. Next job is to get a place at the next Hay-on-Wye book festival and maybe give a talk there about the honeybees. The video is how we ‘great’ authors do our business ; )

Oh, did I not mention Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cornwall? You must wonder what she’s doing amongst my pictures above. She was at Addyman Books the day before me and here she is leaving Murder Mayhem. Pity, if I’d gone the day before I could have thanked her for the lovely letter she sent me regarding “Betsie Valentine And The Honeybees! “

Back to the bees. I thought I’d share with you some images and videos I took during a recent ‘normal hive inspection’ . Mainly pointing out the things we want to see when we go through a hive. Originally it was my intention to video the entire inspection, which I did but, as I said when attempting to make a video of the swarm collection, it’s difficult on your own to get the camera angle right and when you do, if using a phone it can fall over and does! So here is my cobbled together collection of images and videos!

Lots of lovely, healthy busy bees.
Healthy wall to wall brood.
young larvae in royal jelly
Healthy looking larvae before being capped with wax.
Five brief videos.
(A) Birds eye view of the entrance.
(B) Bees on a frame.
(C) Slow motion of the bees coming in and going.
(D) The wonderful fanning bees.
(E) Spot the queen bee!

The comings and goings of the bees. It’s like Heathrow airport on a hot sunny day!

Busy girls, looking after the brood and keeping it clean. And look closely, in the middle, you’ll see a bee performing a waggle dance!

I just love how clumsy they are when coming in to land, not surprising really as they’re laden with water, nectar, propolis and pollen.

Wonderful fanning bees working so hard in the heat to keep the temperature inside the hive at a constant level between 32° - 35°. This is absolutely vital for the survival of the brood. When it’s hot the bees use their wings inside the hive to push the hot air out and with the help of water, either dropped on their backs or around the edges of the frames, their wings become like an air conditioning system… clever girls.

You’ll have to be quick to spot her! Sometimes they meander across a frame and others they’re as fast as lightning… this one certainly was!

Finally… as you all know I like to leave my blogs on a positive note and one that leaves you smiling.

I’ve been working hard getting the word out that “The Queen Bee” is now living in Herefordshire and wanting to travel around the schools. communities and Businesses “Creating a buzz about the honeybees”

Looking a bit hot and bothered, but had to connect with the children right away because I was so chuffed and wanted to get it to the school before it closed!

Much to my delight I managed to book in two talks before the end of term at Eardisley C of E Primary School and Bredenbury Primary School. I would like to say a huge thank you to the staff, at both schools, for the hard work they put in - spreading the word to the children and parents about my imminent arrival! Both Schools and talks were fantastic. The children, as always, engaged with me, showed a great interest in the bees and asked really good questions which always pleases me. I don’t have any images from either schools, because it was just before the end of term, no doubt they were extremely busy and I’m sure they will send me some in September… loads were taken. However, just after I’d been dealing with the huge swarm, still bright red in the face, I got home to a wonderful letter from the Head of Eardisley, Bridget Knight, and a whole sackful of cards written to me from the children! I was overwhelmed. Here’s a video I sent to the school thanking them all, which I hope the Head had time to pass on to the parents in spite of my appearance which may, of course, put her off! Also, the wonderful cards, anda few of the letters they’d written inside the cards. The children ranged from age 4 to 11… hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I have.

One more thing, before I leave you. Eardisley C of E Primary school are involved with a project called “The Harmony Project” When the Head, Bridget, told me about it she gave me a list with the principles they were working with the children.

A principle of geometry – order and proportion
A principle of interdependence –relationship and connection
A principle of the cycle – seasonality and limits
A principle of diversity – a wholeness that includes differentiation
A principle of health – wholeness and well-being
A principle of beauty – pattern, shape, symmetry, movement, colour, texture and flavour
A principle of oneness – we are Nature

Each and every one of those principles is precisely how the honeybees have survived so long. I used this during my talk with the older children, as they were already familiar with it, relating it to the honeybees and will continue to use it during my talks. So thank you to Bridget for that!

If you want to look up The Harmony Project, it’s a lovely website with lots of good reading, here is a link:

https://www.theharmonyproject.org.uk/

Have a wonderful August. I have no idea of what the bees will bring to the table, apart from honey, but no doubt it will make for good reading in my August blog!

If you’re going away - stay safe -

"THE EARTH HAS MUSIC FOR THOSE WHO LISTEN...."