What a glorious spring day! I wanted to see if the colonies were flying and bringing in pollen as it was such lovely weather. The wind was still pretty chilly so I decided against opening them up but it was good to see the leaves starting to appear on the hedgerow trees, and sure enough, pollen was going in!
The newer colony is definitely more active than the original one, so I will need to take a closer look once the warmth stabilises. We are not out of the woods yet regarding “winter losses” so care is still needed not to overexert the colony by introducing a cold draught across their nest.
I checked the inspection boards; both as before, with some crystals from honey as well as a few mites and some pollen packets:
I went for a short wander around the site: Chiffchaffs and Great and Blue Tits were singing, and I saw a Buzzard fly overhead. A Snipe shot up from the wet undergrowth near the hives and zig-zagged off in characteristic manner.
Wayward Bee 