Back in March, Judy Taylor (MHS’s beekeeper) wrote ‘Have you heard the buzz?’ telling us what her bees were up to in the spring. They have had the summer collecting nectar and, at the same time, pollinating many of our plants. So it is time to revisit the hives to see what honey the bees have made, with the hope of a bumper harvest. Though after this year’s poor summer, Judy was not optimistic. I accompanied her to investigate.

That was quite an experience as you can probably tell by the wobbly camera work! Knowing that Judy had to reassemble this hive then work her way through all the others, it was perhaps time for me to leave her to it!

With that I decided to go home and await her verdict in the morning. Were we going to return tomorrow to collect the all frames and spend the day extracting? Or not?

…Tomorrow dawned and sadly the answer was not enough honey to make it worthwhile, particularly as the hive will need what honey there is for the bees to consume over the winter.

So we now wait until the spring to see if farmers have planted oil seed rape crops within 1.5 miles of the hives which, weather permitting, will yield more nectar for honey next year.