Bees on Heather

[Bridget]

The commercial boys arrived today in their unimogs and put their bees out on the moor. Only bell heather out at present and not much of that. Seems earlier than last year.

[Trog]

Yes, I noticed there was bell heather out the other day when I went fishing.

[gavin]

May be Murray McGregor's - he works up the A9 area. Would be if the Unimogs were yellow. He has five or six of them. You should say hello! They are all friendly enough.

I was up on the moors with a beekeeping friend this afternoon. Had wondered about taking some of my bees to their usual site early to catch the bell heather, but there really isn't very much of it. I usually go late in July for the main heather crop but this year it looks as if it is going to be late, maybe as late as the traditional date of Auguest 12th. It looks about three weeks away. Some years it is already coming out now. That's OK, it could be a good lime year so they can stay put for a fortnight or so.

[Bridget]

Gavin I have heard that they are Murrays. I don't know if we have lime around here - does it occur near where there is heather.?

[gavin]

Lime (aka linden) trees do well in the lowlands. You will find them in gardens, planted alongside roads in suburbia, parks, even municipal landscape plantings in the W of Dundee. Not many in your area I would think and usually none near heather, at least in the Highlands.

It is also the time of year for bramble, clover, ragwort (boo!), and willowherb amongst others. The willowherb seems particularly late - it is just starting to come out around here. Himalayan balsam around the river Isla in Angus is only just showing some colour too.

[prakel]

The willowherb seems particularly late - it is just starting to come out around here.

First, your sycamores were in flower before ours, now your willowherb is slightly ahead of ours. So much for living on the South Coast!

[gavin]

LOL! That sycamore was an early tree where I park my car at the apiary. The sycamore season seemed to go on for months after that. Just noticed a few flowers on willowherb near Longforgan today. Can't speak for the bulk of it, wasn't watching closely.

[EmsE]

Himalayan balsam around the river Isla in Angus is only just showing some colour too.

The himalayan balsam has flowered really early here. My bees have been visiting it for at least the past 3 weeks that I know of. It is usually the end of July, not the beginning that the flowers open. Could this mean the bees won't have their usual August source of nectar to fill the brood chambers after the supers have been removed?

[gavin]

It does seem to go on and on, maybe not each plant or even each patch, but in total. So I wouldn't buy in truck loads of sugar yet. I'm told it makes a nice cut comb honey that doesn't crystalise.

[Jon]

LOL! That sycamore was an early tree where I park my car at the apiary.

I got 165lbs of sycamore honey extracted at the start of June after the hot spell at the end of May.
It has quite a nutty flavour. I sold some to my local health food shop and one of his customers reported back that it was the best honey he had ever tasted.


The himalayan balsam has flowered really early here.
As Gav says, it just goes on and on producing more flowers until cut down by the first hard frost.
It is not unusual for it to flower well into October.

[gavin]

OK, I've been looking a bit harder.

Rosebay willowherb: some patches fully out, the great majority just starting with a few flowers out on the spikes, some will be much later.

Himalayan balsam: some in flower and may have been for a while, most patches seem late and hardly have a flower on them yet. I think that it depends on the nature of the site. Those beside rivers that flood have been held in check and will peak a lot later this year.

Ragwort: some of it has been out for ages but a lot is just coming into full flower now.

Lime: some trees just opening their first buds, others have been flowering for a while. Could be a good year but the weather isn't cooperating. Strong wind today will be keeping the bees at home, even if we aren't (for a change) suffering the rain hitting the west.

Brambles: full flower, the bees can't make much of them.

Clover: the best crops come from the pastures in the hills and I haven't had a good look at them.

Ling heather: as I wrote yesterday, it is going to be a late season and it will be well into August before the flowers are out.

If the heather doesn't come right we may be looking at another really poor season in Tayside.