Spring seemed to sweep in unannounced and presented us with a whole week of beautiful sunshine. One could say it arrived with aplomb - self-confidence and assurance.

Having spent the last couple of months topping up the bees fondant icing, what a delight it was to be able to actually open up the hives and see what’s going on inside! Of the six hives at the apiary 5 have survived. Not bad. Would have preferred all six to have made it through but sadly, one of the hives lost their queen and only the autumn/winter bees remained with very little to do. One of Challis’ hives had some drone brood, so, with that in mind, I transferred the remaining bees from their hive in to a Nuc, (see images below), and gave them some eggs from one of my other hives. They may or may not have the energy to raise a queen, who knows? It was worth giving it a shot. There weren’t enough to join them with another hive, and they wouldn’t be much use as they are old bees so this, at least, has given them a chance to do something if they can. If not, nature will take its course and they will die off any way. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Below are some lovely images that I took - very quickly - of one of the hives, showing how full they are and how busy they are already gathering pollen and stores. Considering how bad the weather has been, they’ve been very busy. Lots of pollen, stores eggs, larva and brood. I even managed to get a shot of the queen. I love the picture of Challis with all the bees on her back. While we were checking the bees, they were checking us! I gently swept them off and all was well! In the last picture you can see a circle of bees lapping up the honey that was exposed when I lifted the crown board off. Waste not want not… Tis the motto of the honeybee. For the first inspection of the season it couldn’t have been better.

I took the thermal covers of the hives and removed the mouse guards. You can see from the last image that the bees waste a lot of pollen going in and out of the hives when they have mouse guards on. Now I know the hives are full of bees it’s safe to remove the mouse guards as they can protect themselves. When the hives reduce down in number in the winter, the mice can sneak into a warm hive and scuttle under the cluster of bees looking after their queen and feed on the stores throughout the winter. Great for the mice but not good for the bees!

I know I’ve introduced Amelie Upton to you before but for those who are new to my blogs let me explain who she is. Amelie is a young girl, whose mother bought her a copy of Betsie Valentine And The Honeybees as an extra Christmas present back in 2019. She lives locally to where I used to live in Buckinghamshire and sometime during the ensuing spring I received a phone call from her mother, Lorraine, telling me she loved the book and would it be possible for her to come and visit my apiary. Well, who wouldn’t say yes to that?

And so it was, we arranged a date for them to come over. I told Amelie to arrive with her hair tied back and bring wellington boots and I could kit her and her mother out with Bee suits etc. When we got to the apiary I explained that if she felt at all anxious, she could walk away at any time, but the main thing was to stay calm. I chose a particularly nice colony of bees for her to go through/look at with me and she absolutely loved the whole experience. Her mother asked if she could come back again and of course I agreed. During the summer, she came over several times, especially if there was something interesting to see going on in the hives and I dedicated a swarm of bees that I’d collected to her and we called it “Amelie’s hive.” When she came over, that was the hive she would look after. She even helped spin the honey from ‘her’ hive and take a couple of jars home with her. Boom! Tis our reward for looking after the bees.

Not long after that season, Amelie decided she wanted to become a beekeeper herself. She joined the Chalfont Beekeepers Association -Juniors - attended all the meetings and took her Beginners exam and passed with flying colours. She is now a beekeeper!

Sadly, I moved just after she had begun but I passed her on to my good friend and my Mentor when I started, Sarah Peterson. Sarah is a very experienced beekeeper and a very good teacher not to mention a lovely person… I knew she would look after Amelie.

We are, of course, still in touch. She has been up to see me, with her mother, in Hereford and they are due up this weekend as we are going to the BBKA Spring Convention at Harper Adams University in Shropshire together. They will be staying until Monday so I’m hoping the sun will shine and I can take them over to have a look at my bees.

I asked Amelie to do a little something for this blog. So, if you’re reading this and you have children that love the outside life, bugs and bees… you can show them what Amelie has achieved and written written and hopefully encourage more youngsters to get involved (and parents!).

“I have prepared my hive for spring by getting my second beehive built and all of its frames built too. I’ve been getting all of the equipment ready and making sure I had enough of it. Checking the Varroa Mite droppings, feeding my bees fondant and doing the developing bee skills course. I’m learning more about the honeybees, swarm prevention and about bee diseases.

The thing I love about beekeeping the most is seeing the less mature bees coming out of their cells and watching the bees communicating to each other.

In the future, I am looking forward to gaining honey from my bees and to get a second beehive up and running for summer.”

I would just like to point out that Amelie is 10. She was 7 when I first met her. She is an amazing young lady and I feel very proud to have played a part in her love of the honeybees.

I had to include the image below. This is of Amelie on her second birthday. Her mother sent it to me ages ago. She reminds me of the rhyme in “Betsie Valentine And the Honeybees” but I’ll change it a bit.

“Are you looking at me everybody? Are you looking at me? My name first name is Amelie and I’m dressed up as a bee. Are you looking at me everybody? Are you looking at me? My first name is Amelie and I’d love to be a bee!”

It was meant to be Amelie, it was meant to bee!

And so it I come to the end of another blog. I’m sorry this is so late…I’ve been a bit busy you see. You could almost say I’ve been as busy as a honeybee! As you all know I like to end my blogs on something of a high and what could be better than this?

Look what dropped on to my front door step last week. Excited? I should coco. This is the sequel to ‘Betsie Valentine And The Honeybees.’

‘Betsie Valentine And The Honourable Honeybee.’ You don’t have to have read the first one, but for those who have, they will be delighted that Betsie has grown up with them and in this book she is 11 and learning to be a beekeeper. If you would like a copy, go to Shop Book and put your order in! If you would like me sign it and dedicate it someone then put it down in the ‘additional information’ section when you get to checkout.

Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness, but do not damage it. (John Muir)

See you next month