It’s been a month of Queen cells at the apiary. There are three types: swarm cells, supersedure cells and emergency queen cells. Swarm cells occur when the colony becomes congested – the old queen and about 60% of the colony form a swarm and relocate in a...
As a young girl growing up in Bannockburn my grandparents often used this phrase and I wondered if it referred to the month of May or the flowering of the May-blossom or Hawthorn. Either way, what it really means is ‘beware as the weather is often fickle at this...
Spring Blossom never ceases to amaze me. The fact that huge, sturdy, solid trees can create something so delicate, fragile and perfect as their blossom is one of the wonders of the natural world. Cherry Blossom or ‘Sakura’ is the national flower of Japan. There,...
The unseasonably warm weather this weekend meant we were able to do an early spring check on the colonies at the apiary. In three of the four hives the queens are laying well with an excellent early spring build up. Hopefully this will translate into a large...
March is proving to be a sunny month this year and what a difference some sunshine can make. We are getting stuck into the lengthy job of preparing the soil beds in the newly laid out ‘Enclosed Garden’. The winter mud is gradually drying out and, thankfully, the soil...
This has been one of the best snowdrop years I can remember in recent times. The winter was relatively mild and because the new shoots did not have to push up through frozen, snowy ground, they grew quickly producing generous stems and an abundance of dazzling...
