After what seemed like the end of summer yesterday and a very autumnal feeling day, today was a little warmer, much drier and there was still some wind so I had no option but to go windsurfing. I took my GoPro camera with me of course and got some nice footage of a decent session...
Just over a week had passed since our first hive inspection and after our walk at Ynyshir, the sun came out, the wind eased a little so we had a perfect window of opportunity to make our second hive inspection. We were hoping to find that the bees had built out comb on a few...
There’s lots going on at Ynyshir RSPB reserve at the moment. Spring Watch will be coming from there in a couple of weeks so it is all go getting things ready for the production. A studio is being set up overlooking the lake and various nest boxes are being modified to accept cameras – I...
Since we’ve been planning to keep honey bees, we’ve also been trying to make the garden as bee-friendly as possible. The idea was to plant bee-friendly plants, but still keep the garden looking nice. We wanted it to be a nice place for bees and humans alike. Sounds easy really, we like flowers, bees like...
Morgan has been dying to ride his bike up at Nant yr Arian for a while so whilst the schools were closed last thursday for polling I took him up there and we had a ride around the lake. he also had his first go along the Hippity Hop section of trail. It was a...
We carried out our first proper hive inspection on Friday, on both our hives (Clettwr and Leri). As new beekeepers it was all very exciting but seemed to go pretty well. The plan was to go through the hives, try to spot the queens and if possible mark them, see if the bees had started...
We’ve been watching our new bees coming and going and they certainly seem to be bringing back quite a bit of pollen. This is of course good news, but although we have a pollen chart I don’t think that identifying the pollen is going to be easy. The pollen chart really only shows the colour...
Llwyncelyn garden in Glandyfi was open on Sunday as part of the National Garden Scheme, so we had a little family outing to visit it. The National Garden Scheme sees provate gardens all over the country open in aid of charity and I’m sure many people go along for a nose as much as anything...
An important aspect of successful beekeeping is that of keeping accurate records. It allows you to know what is, and has been, going on inside your hives which in time should provide useful data that will help you manage your stocks more effectively. From your records you should be able to tell what has been...