So here I sit, tapping away in the garden, under the protection of a large parasol. It’s September 6th, the sun is blazing down, and apparently set like this for the next few days. Now, personally, I ain’t complaining! I don’t have small children, so I’m not reliant on good weather during school holiday times. However, as a beekeeper, I’d like to put in a little complaint on behalf of my honeybees and perhaps many other beekeepers bees.

The weather thus far in the UK, has been, to say the least, usettled. See below.

The weather in March

Cold and dry early in the month, mild but very wet second half.

The weather in April

High pressure dominating, wet and windy mid-month.

THE WEATHER IN MAY

Wet and windy first half of the month.

The weather in June

June has been confirmed as the hottest on record for the UK.

The weather in July

Cool, wet and windy.

the weather in August

Wet, cool and generally drab.

NB. (All of the above weather information has been copied from The Met Office website).

March, April and first half of May, disastrous weather for the honeybees; I cannot inspect the hives for signs of laying or swarming. End of May and June, bees explode out of their hives, swarming hits an all time high, loss of old queens, new ones take over. Ok… I had queens but they were young and need at least 6 weeks before the brood develops and can actually start bringing in the goods! But they’re bees and they work hard and by the end of June we seem to be back on a roll. But July and August have been dreadful. A sunny day here followed by a rainy day or two or three there, so anything they collected they ate themselves. Hoorah for the bees, it’s kept them alive but not much honey for me. I’m not upset per say, just disappointed; not in the bees but in the weather and who says climate change isn’t affecting us? The Met Office thinks differently - “Climate change impacts June temperature records” -

End of weather rant.

Right now my bees are busy busy busy catching up on lost time, with little summer forage left and, hopefully the Ivy about to come into full bloom. Meanwhile I’m feeding my girls and here is a little video of them enjoying the late sunshine!

I will now be preparing for winter by:

Cleaning up the supers and queen excluders.

Storing the super frames in a safe place for next spring.

Putting the mouse guards in place.

Removing any varroa treatments that have finished.

Tying down hive to protect against winds and animals.

Meanwhile, an interesting article in the Sunday Times about Honey Buzzrds and Asian Hornets, which are creeping further and further in to England. Read on:

Honey buzzards get claws into killer Asian hornets

Buzzards could be key to stopping the spread of the voracious Asian hornet that is killing honey bees across Europe, a Spanish study has found.

The yellow-legged or Asian hornet (Vespa velutina), which is native to southeast Asia, has spread to much of western Europe since its accidental introduction into southwest France in 2004 after one apparently arrived with a shipment of pottery from China. The species, which can kill 50 bees a day, was first recorded in northern Spain in 2010, where in some areas it is estimated to have led to a fall of up to 50 per cent in honey production and killed three people allergic to its venom.

The government has launched an eradication programme but scientists from the University of Alcalá, in the Madrid region, have suggested the European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus) may be a more efficient killer.

The research suggests that buzzards demolished about 24,500 hornet nests in an area of the northwest Galicia region in 2018, as many as were destroyed by the authorities and voluntary groups. “By using cameras we detected that the European honey buzzard is a predator of Asian hornets and we found that this bird has such a capacity to destroy them that it is equalling human eradication efforts,” José Manuel Fernández, an ornithologist from the university, said, adding that the buzzard was operating in dense forests where humans were not.

The research has also shown that the Galicia population of the honey buzzard has tripled since the hornet’s arrival and that the average number of offspring per pair has also increased.

The project is now trying to determine how many buzzards would be needed to keep the hornet population at low levels and whether the poison used to eradicate it is detrimental to the raptor. Salvador Rebollo, an ecologist and the leader of the research team, said the bird could be a “powerful ally” in reducing hornet populations.

The hornet was found in Britain in 2016, with one confirmed sighting last year.

 

ADDENDUM FROM BBKA

 

This year a large number of Asian Hornet nests have been found in the UK. To date 32 Asian hornet nests have been found in 27 locations. The threat is getting closer. There was a reported sighting in Bishops Castle although this has not been substantiated.

 The situation for the UK is very serious and we need to be prepared for dealing with Asian hornets in our area.

 What can you do?

 1.     Learn how to identify the Asian hornet and to distinguish it from European hornets and wasps.

2.     Download the Asian hornet App onto your phone so that you can report a sighting to the NBU

3.     Make a trap

4.     Monitor the trap.

 

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO HELP IDENTIFY AN ASIAN HORNET https://www.bbka.org.uk/identify-asian-hornet

Finally, I always like to leave you with a honeybee quote and I thought this one rather appropriate after all my complaining which is why I used it as the title for this blog!

“The busy bee has now time for sorrow” (William Blake).

Yet another thing we can learn from these incredible creatures!