Adventuresinbeeland's Blog

Today was the annual Perivale Wood bluebell open day. Most of the year the wood is closed unless you are a member, but in April each year thousands of people come to enjoy the bluebells. This year a record 2023 visitors came to see their beautiful blues.

The Perivale wood website says “Perivale Wood is a typical English bluebell wood, with some 4-5 million flowers in spring. On a calm day in late April or May, the scent of the massed blooms is delightful. Bluebells are long-lived plants, lasting for 20 or more years, as long as the leaves are not trampled in spring, and each year the bulb grows larger; they only flower after several years, when the bulbs are large enough.”

Bluebells are not always blue!

Not all bluebells in the UK are our native bluebell. Some are Spanish or a Spanish/British hybrid. The Natural History Museum website explains:

“The easiest way to tell the difference between native and non-native bluebells is to look at the colour of the pollen.

If it is creamy-white then the bluebell is a native.  If it is any other colour, such as pale green or blue, then it is definitely not native.

When the pollen is shed, the empty anther can be a pale cream colour, so make sure you look at the most recently opened flowers at the top of the spike, to find the true colour of the pollen.”

The Perivale wood bluebells are native – a sign of an ancient woodland.

Popping up here and there amidst the bluebells were Greater stitchworts, a white flower that grows in hedgerows and woodland edges from May to August.

There are even a few pink flowers – red campion?

Thanks to the organisers of the Perivale Wood open day for a grand time. As well as the bluebells, very good value food and drink was available, plus stalls and events like archery and morris dancing. It must have taken a lot of work to put together.

I think I can now safely say that all of our five colonies made it through winter. I am not completely satisfied with this result as two are small, only on about four to five frames. A perfect result would have been five booming colonies with brood boxes full to the brim.

Still, I know we are lucky to have our bees safe and well, as the blogs I read around the world remind me that not all colonies make it through winter. We have not opened our hives to find the heartbreaking sight of a tiny dead cluster. Our success has probably been aided by a 2014 which was a dream year for weather, with plenty of warm, sunny days interspersed by light rain to keep the nectar flowing.

Lots of beautiful blossom out now for the bees

Having five colonies does mean a lot of work though, especially at this time of year. Endless hammering together of frames (my least favourite job) and stirring sugar into water to make syrup to encourage the bees to draw out fresh new combs as part of the Bailey comb exchange. Then transporting the heavy syrup to the bees, trying to find a space to fit with my bulky bee equipment on a packed Saturday bus. Rushing down to the allotment before work, or rushing over afterwards when it’s nearly getting dark. Broken nails and yellow propolis stained hands.

I am grateful for the sunshine though, and am enjoying watching all the new flowers coming along. The bluebells are here!

Bluebells at the Ealing apiary

Bluebells under a tree at the allotment

Last weekend I helped out at a practical session for the new recruits taking the Ealing association’s annual beginners course. I supervised them inspecting a few hives, showing them how to turn the frames and what they were looking at. There were about thirteen of them, so as you can imagine there were plenty of questions. Everything is new; they are learning the complete basics of what pollen, nectar, honey and brood look like. Some of them didn’t know what a varroa mite was (such blissful innocence).

When opening up hives with beginners my main worry is not that the bees will hurt them, but that they will hurt the bees. It’s hard for them to remember that they should hold the frames over the hive, as otherwise the queen could fall or fly to the floor and get squashed. Still, I did think the lady who watched without a veil on was extremely brave; she obviously has not been stung under the eye before. Beginners tend to be obsessed by two things: honey and finding the queen. We found some queens and saw plenty of honey so that was good.

When I told Drew about the beginners session, he said “Will the first lesson be how to eat cake?”. I explained to the beginners that the association is really just a tea and cake club with the beekeeping as an excuse on the side, but I’m not sure they believed me. They’ll learn.

Orange, pine nut, honey and yogurt cake

When I visited the allotment bees, I was amused to discover that they’ve propolised the block of wood that sits over one of the crown board holes so that it’s propped up at a jaunty angle. The power of propolis!

Bees hanging out underneath the wood. They’ve built some comb under there too.

The second time I’ve spotted this flower emerge at the Barbican centre. It’s a snake’s head fritillary, official name Fritillaria meleagris. They used to grow in meadows alongside the river Thames and were collected in huge quantities to be sold in London markets, but have now become a rarely seen wildflower. A lot of their habitat was destroyed during World War II, when most of the ancient meadows became used for food crops.

The running around after the bees recently has left me partly happy to see them again but also quite exhausted. We are arranging to sell two colonies, but sometimes I have thoughts about giving up beekeeping completely, or at least giving up one of the sites. The main thing stopping me is that I enjoy being with the bees and it would be a shame to lose the skill. I would miss the bees but not all the logistics of storing and transporting equipment. Perhaps I’ll see how it goes this summer. Have you ever thought about giving up beekeeping?

My complaining about the weather worked – it has responded by sending sunshine and warmth our way. It has actually been so bonny that I have been walking around without my coat on! And thinking about getting my sunglasses out!

This has coincided with some holiday I booked off, so I’ve been able to inspect the allotment bees for the first time this year. I felt strangely apprehensive when I opened up the hive, partly because it’s been so long since I’ve properly looked at them. Early October was probably my last inspection. This is what I saw in the super:

Now that – THAT is a box full of bees. A sight we have been longing to see in our hives at Perivale. And below it was another box full of bees, because I left them on a brood box with a super on top over winter. I decided not to use my smoker, as I dislike disturbing the bees too much by blowing smoke in their sensitive eyes. The bees look daunting at first, so you move slow and gentle. A couple were buzzing round my head, but you hold your nerve and before you know it twenty-two frames later you’ve inspected the lot, no smoke and no stings either.

Nearly every single frame of the super had young brood or eggs in it. Above is the brood box stacked underneath the super, which was also packed with bees. Inside I found older brood and wonderful golden rainbow walls of pollen. My only worry is they are quite low on nectar/honey compared to the amount of pollen they have. And in a hive this big, with drone brood and drones walking the frames, they will be thinking of swarming soon.

Part of the reason I took time off was to get a hive delivered from Thornes. So I have a spare brood box now, plus eleven frames of foundation, all ready to do a Bailey comb change to get them to draw out new clean frames of comb. That should take their minds off swarming. The only problem is I have to get the brood box and frames down to the allotment, which will take a taxi and probably also the help of Drew when he gets back at the weekend.

Would appreciate thoughts from other beekeepers on how to do a Bailey comb change with a brood-and-a-half (as a brood box plus a super containing brood is known). Should I place the foundation frames above both boxes? Or in-between the brood box and the super for extra warmth to draw the combs out? I have two queen excluders.

Just as I was finishing the inspection, an old man approached behind the fence. He asked me the usual questions about whether I get stung and how much honey I get, telling me he finds the bees interesting. “I’m glad you like them” I said. “Oh no”, he replied, “I don’t like them! I got stung once and I’ve never forgot it”. As he was saying this, I noticed with dread a little worker climbing on his hair. I froze – wondered whether to tell him – the bee flew off. Such as a relief as when bees climb on your hair they have a tendency to burrow in and get stuck. I have received some of my nastiest stings from bees doing this, because the skin is quite thin on your scalp. He walked away unaware of the bee’s investigations.

As I left he shouted out “You’re a better man than me” across the allotments. Thanks, I think!

Here’s something else I found – dead, but proof that stag beetles roam the allotments.

The warmth has brought the flowers out. The bees like red deadnettle.

Red deadnettle

And I was excited to find this pinky/purple pulmonaria, also known as common lungwort, on our plot. I only know what they are because some kind people on Twitter told me.

@Emily_Heath they look like pulmonaria to me. Bumblebees seem to like them!

— Adrian Davis (@beekeeperadrian) April 9, 2015

@Emily_Heath Pulmonaria, or, Lung Wort (was linked to helping with coughs) https://t.co/MyXwp9hmja & http://t.co/grYyCjIhNK

— Alyson Tyler (@libalyson) April 9, 2015

Pulmonaria, also known as common Lungwort

A magnolia on Tuesday evening in Walpole Park. Drew and I were walking home, having had our first after-work picnic of the year. It’s lovely to enjoy spending time outdoors again.

Magnolia tree

The days just keep on coming – cold, wet, soggy, cloudy, gloomy. Occasionally it’ll be sunny and warmish and then we’ll be at work. So it’s been impossible to do a proper inspection of the bees for weeks. No chance to do a shook-swarm or Bailey comb change yet.

Leaving me awful grumpy. It has been six months since we stopped inspections – October, November, December, January, February, March. And now it is April and still too cold. The time we get to spend with our bees is so short.

I went down yesterday and topped up their sugar syrup – some of the colonies are still low on stores after winter. They ate up their honey and haven’t had enough of a chance to collect new nectar yet, what with the slow start to spring. I am still worried about the two weak colonies, Chili and Chamomile, but as I was shivering in my bee suit didn’t want to disturb them.

Just as I was leaving the apiary two young men approached me at the gate. Looking uncertain of themselves, they asked me ‘Are you… a beekeeper?’. They had been wandering down the road trying to find our well hidden location. I showed them round the apiary and our hives and I think they enjoyed it. Oliver works at a magazine in central London which has hives on its roof looked after by Luke Dixon, a theatre director/part-time professional beekeeper and author of ‘Keeping bees in towns and cities‘.

Jonesie and Alan arrived so I left the two visitors in their capable hands. A couple of bus stops and a short walk later and I arrived at Perivale Wood for a wildflowers walk led by flower expert Nic Ferriday. Here’s some photos of the flowers brave enough to show us their faces.

Above is lesser celandine, a type of buttercup. It comes out early in the year so is good for bumble bees.

Primrose. The wood had some enormous clumps of these.

Wood anenome. Pretty little flower.

And then these last two were tweeted by David Howdon, @BlotchedEmerald.

“@BlotchedEmerald: @SelborneSoc one of these I suspect. pic.twitter.com/F5QNBpPfqd” depends on where we look!
— The Selborne Society (@SelborneSoc) April 4, 2015

This huge plant is a Butterbur! So called because its big leaves were once used to wrap butter in. It likes damp soil and is fairly rare.

@SelborneSoc we found some of these. Turkish Squill I believe. #Botany. pic.twitter.com/RVCbYEtHzV — David Howdon (@BlotchedEmerald) April 4, 2015

And finally a sweet little Turkish squill.

David also showed us a Peacock butterfly overwintering in a shed. He thinks it will be leaving soon. And the first few bluebells are out, getting ready for the magnificent annual Perivale Wood open day at the end of April. Their leaves already carpet the wood’s floor. The bluebells are coming!

Many days this week have been sunny and I’ve been able to enjoy sitting outside to eat my lunch, basking in the sunshine before descending back into what feels like a dark office. I have started spotting a few insects zooming about, including honey bees. Below is a photo of my latest discovery – magnolia trees have started blooming. The flowers were not quite open yet when I passed by, but the white candles were reaching skywards in preparation.

There is a sea of crocuses on the green in front of Ealing Broadway station, but the crocuses at the apiary are past their best now. Spring blossom will take their place; many white and pink cherry trees are starting to show off their pretty little flowers.

On sunny days I hear the excited chattering of birds. They sound happy to have the sun’s warmth around them. It is getting light when I leave work at 5pm now and sometimes I can hear a blackbird calling by Liverpool Street station, even above the noise of rushing footsteps and traffic.

Below is a honey bee I watched as I ate a huge burrito from a local food market. Getting food is so much easier for me than for her. If the burrito would have done her any good, I would have shared it.

Being the weekend, of course the sunshine turned to overcast skies and a chill wind when Emma and I went along to the apiary. We were hoping to take a couple of frames of brood from our stronger hives and use it to strengthen the two weak ones, but sadly even the two stronger hives, full of bees though they are, had little brood to take. We left them alone apart from adding Nektapoll, a pollen substitute that the bees love.

On quickly inspecting Chamomile’s hive I realised that the frames were extremely light and they had gone through nearly all their stores. We took a frame of honey from Chilli’s hive and gave that to them, as though they have syrup they may not want to leave the cluster to reach it. This may actually be part of the reason that Chamomile is not laying very much. It’s a difficult situation as the old winter bees cannot survive for ever and we need new young bees to replace them, but a weak colony is not going to be able to raise a large amount of brood. The hope is that slowly, slowly we can help them build up to a reasonable size.

We are using dummy boards to try to keep the smaller colonies warm, though they are not the insulated ones you can get. Does anyone have any recommendations for UK suppliers of insulated dummy boards?