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  • Forage , what's flowering in your area?

  • Bee's Need Flowers...… whats more to say?
Bee's Need Flowers...… whats more to say?
 #12502  by MickBBKA
 10 Mar 2022, 21:45
HAZEL !! OMG. It finished here mid January. Willow is just starting to open and Hawthorn is showing green tips. Our winters are far too warm here now and spring too cold. Had our first true frost of this winter on Mon night. So much flowering early due to warm winter but spring too cold for the bees to get to a lot of it, its March and the winds of death have arrived. Bees were gathering more pollen in Jan and Feb than now. I will be moving some colonies back to my inland apiary in a week or so, it was a game changer last year. Crab apple in full flower near me as well.
 #12508  by Alfred
 13 Mar 2022, 12:31
Some big patches of OSR around the county starting to bloom hard
Thankfully none in range of my boxes- I could do without that hassle at the moment.
Plenty of yellow pollen splattered on the landing boards keeping the corpses company so all seems to be going to plan.

Visited a client yesterday who was next to paddock with 72 single brood polys.
I didn't get a good look to see how many were occupied but I know they've only been there since Autumn.
The whole area was commercial fruit tree territory until around two years ago when most orchards were grubbed up.
Surely that's a lot of bees for what's left?
 #12509  by NigelP
 13 Mar 2022, 14:58
Alfred wrote:
13 Mar 2022, 12:31
Visited a client yesterday who was next to paddock with 72 single brood polys.
I didn't get a good look to see how many were occupied but I know they've only been there since Autumn.
The whole area was commercial fruit tree territory until around two years ago when most orchards were grubbed up.
Surely that's a lot of bees for what's left?
Far too many in my opinion. Usual maxim ism 8 hives and see if if it's a good enough site to take more. You need some forage to service 72 hives....assuming they are all owner occupied.
Only place I go above 8 is on the moors where they have nothing but heather (forage) for miles in each direction and my back garden for overwintering...before they get moved onto fields of OSR. Love the stuff :)
 #12517  by Alfred
 14 Mar 2022, 08:15
I'm wondering how things might change with Bladder the Puddings antics in the east.
We won't be importing so much of his wheat or things like linseed so will our forage sources change to suit.
 #12519  by AdamD
 25 Mar 2022, 20:43
Lots of blossom on the hedge trees (prunus species) and OSR is starting to flower a few miles inland, but it's not ready on the coast yet which is not a bad thing as I would like colonies to be bigger before it gets in full flow.
Last year we had cool weather whilst the OSR was flowering so I got very little of it.
 #12523  by MickBBKA
 28 Mar 2022, 21:15
Having been to Edinburgh at the weekend on the train OSR is well in flower all along the North East coast and around me and its all over the place here this year :cry: It really does spoil the lovely dark honey from the woods and hedgerows. Blackthorn almost finished in a lot of areas, cherry in bud, willow and dandelions in flower which usually invites Stockton Borough Council to do some ecological destruction to the local pollinating community. :roll:
 #12663  by Alfred
 29 Apr 2022, 19:58
Touring the county today it seems 70% of the available land is screaming yellow oilseed
I saw three bumblebees all day -that's it
13© top temp it didn't have the slightest whiff.
With the problems in Ukraine it could be back on the priorities for UK arable agriculture.
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