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Nipped over to check bees at lunchtime today accompanied by the dog.

It is still quite wintery looking and the temperature was about 4c in the sunshine. Not much leaf to be seen although there are willow catkins bearing pollen.



I bumped into one of the National Trust wardens and they have planted a little orchard of Native Irish Apple Trees between the allotments and our Apiary. The orchard will be fenced in so we will now ...

Just had a look at what I was writing this time last year and it was all so much better. Strong colonies and it was over 20c apparently on 27th March and a colony had 7 frames of brood.

I have about the same number of colonies I had this time last year but they are nowhere near as strong.
A lot of the nucs I made up in July and August just dwindled to nothing by mid January which was a disappointment.

This has been a rough year for bees.
The weather turned ...

Had a quick lunchtime visit to the apiary today now that the snow is nearly gone. The recent cold snap has held the snowdrops back so they are still waiting there for a warmish day to open up shop for the pollinators. The Japanese quince in the walled garden is starting to come out now (always a favourite perhaps because of the warmth in that corner, see last year's photos), and the bees in the cavity of the wall of the walled garden were just as vigorous as the best of my hives (slightly sheepish ...

Another quick visit after last night's AGM. By bedding down time early in the winter we'd lost (or fused) a few of those splits that went to Glen Clova and a few weeks ago there were 8 still alive. Now another has gone but the seven survivors are looking more promising. Some of them are strong enough to be able to romp away when spring arrives, though there are still some small enough to struggle to build up ... or fall over that cliff yet.

The nearby willow is on the point of ...

Many thanks to Duncan of the East Scotland branch of Butterfly Conservation for coming last night to give that great talk on East of Scotland butterflies and moths.

A surprising amount of activity at the hives yesterday at lunchtime. The car said that it was 8.5C but a little bit of sun had tempted them out and there was yellow pollen coming in. D's gardener has strimmed the apiary and we could do with tidying the detritus off the hives and stands.

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