Category: Flowers
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Battle axe
“Your bees love you.” So why is it that I’m suited and booted to the hilt. My bright yellow, triple layered head-to-toe suit, every gap Velcro-ed or zipped shut AND clad in leather gloves and wellies when temperatures are reaching record braking temperatures this summer. I must be giving off a very good impression to…
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Pining for bees
“Come out and play” I plead. An odd bee flies out to investigate who is tramping around their hive. And, an odd bee flies in. What’s this on its hind legs? Pollen! Beekeepers can get excited by such small things and pollen is exceptionally small; a grain of daffodil pollen weighs about 50μm. It is…
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Loose wire
As I pace up and down the pavement and I wonder if I too have a wire loose. Is there something wrong with the wiring of my brain that I became a hobbyist beekeeper? I would not even have consider getting a tow bar put on my trusty steed if I didn’t have beehives to…
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Summer seeps in
A fantastic display of white blossoming hawthorn is lining the roads and adorning the ditches between the fields. There is a heady smell from the blossoms. The sun is shining, there are blue skies and a few extra degrees of warmth which is waking up the countryside. The road margins are dancing with wild flowers;…
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Getting really up close
“There’s places available and it’s free, would anyone like to attend the microscopy workshop?” The Bee-health officer announced to the beekeepers gathered for one of the weekly winter lectures. It’s funny how the mind works, I thought wouldn’t it be nice to see the magnificence of a bee’s wings up close and to study the variety…
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Rhododendron
As I cycle my bicycle along the country lanes I see large swaths of Rhododendrons. In bloom they are a flashy advertisement of flouncy herbage. Their buds are just forming now and will shortly open in a showy display of pink which look specular in a photograph. However, their beautiful display hides that they are…
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Bees are loving the neglect
Beekeepers seem to be in a perpetual state of angst. Despite our outwardly appearance of calm and the absolute joy that beekeeping brings, worries flow with the seasons and the weather… and a myriad of other triggers. There’s this phenomenon called the June gap, a two -week period of dearth when the hives are full…