Summer Sunshine, Busy Bees, and a Burst of Colour
It’s been the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures at the Borth and Ynyslas Weather Station reaching 28.8°C, and it could get hotter yet. The long days are really helping our solar production too — it’s been a record-breaking year on that front so far, so let’s hope it continues.
The bees seem to be enjoying the summery weather as well. I took a little look at them yesterday and the super full of empty frames that I gave one of the hives last week has been fully drawn out and filled to the brim. The other hives in the apiary needed extra supers too, and I’ve now run out of frames — more have been ordered and are on their way!
The garden is looking quite colourful, if a little overgrown. It’s quite a balamce keeping it friendly for wildlife but also looking nice. Sometime I just have to let the neatness go! The colour isn’t necessarily with flowers that the bees will enjoy, but there’s plenty of other forage around for them. Early in the year they were on the willow in the dune slacks, the crocuses in the garden, then the fruit trees and cherry blossom. There was also lots of blackthorn blossom along the roadsides, and now there are blackcurrant flowers all along the bank at the far end of the field. There’s also plenty of clover around, and they were on the gorse at one point too. It feels as though there’s been enough for them to forage on this year, so hopefully we’ll have a decent harvest again — if the weather holds and the bees keep doing their thing that is.
Here are a few colourful photos from the garden, including my new colourful sail — which I don’t think you’ve seen yet. I’m hoping to get out and use it on Sunday!
