Creeping thistle

[nemphlar]

Hives in the garden are working hard on a rough field of creeping thistle, I've never seen so much in a field and never seen the bees working it, has anyone ever had honey from this source

[SDM]

The farm next to me hasn't been worked for about 10 yrs and I've got fields full of it around me this year. No idea what it'll taste like but they sure as hell work it.

[gavin]

'Honey pale and of good flavour' according to Wedmore for thistles in general. The bees do seem to be working creeping thistle well at the moment.

[Mellifera Crofter]

My 'Plants for Bees' book also says honey bees get nectar from thistles but, like Nemphlar, I haven't seen honey bees on the thistles growing on my hill. Bumble bees and other bees - but not honey bees.

The book also says that 'nectar quite often rises in the tube ... and so is easily available to short-tongued bees, including honey bees'. So, maybe the nectar just doesn't rise high enough in my hill's thistles - but I keep looking in the hope of seeing bees on the thistles.

Kitta

[nemphlar]

Thanks for comments I'd never seen them on it before, increasingly the fields around me are filled with ponies and less sheep and beef with a corresponding drop in pasture quality, it's an ill wind as the saying goes.