We have been keeping bees on land at Welbeck Manor for just under three years, and unfortunately this has been the worst start to a beekeeping season since we began keeping bees.
Bees like people do not like to go out in the rain. The cold has also prevented many spring flowers from producing sufficient nectar and pollen to allow the bees to forage and produce enough honey for themselves let alone produce a surplus that we as beekeepers can harvest.
As beekeepers we must only take the extra honey that the bees produce. Honey bees are the only bee whose colony survives the winter. They do this by creating a surplus honey that can take them through the lean months where there is little food available.
It is this surplus that beekeepers can harvest.
A good season can produce plenty of honey for both bees and beekeepers whilst a poor season means less to no honey for the beekeeper and that the bees need to be fed with sugar syrup and sugar cake to see them through. Needless to say they prefer their own honey! If we take too much this will lead the colony to starve.
Our main aim is to ensure all our colonies survive this poor start to the season. There has been a starvation alert issued with many colonies dying due to lack of food, fortunately our colonies are all going strong but need a little more TLC than usual.
Plans for the rest of the season include –
• Queen rearing – as nothing beats a locally produced queen bee
• Building our honey production colonies
• And if it ever stops raining providing the restaurant at Welbeck with enough honey for them to incorporate into their menu.
• We are also monitoring for the Asian Hornet. (smaller than our European hornet which is a beneficial insect and has lived alongside honey bees for tens of thousands of years). Our honey bees have no defense against the Asian Hornet (AH) which can decimate colonies within days.
Currently established across France and the Channel Islands they are becoming regularly sighted in Britain, particularly at sea ports with traffic to the continent, unfortunately Plymouth is one of those cities.
What are we doing about this threat? The Plymouth Beekeepers Association (PBKA) has broken the city down into 1KM squares, the intention is to have those monitored for the AH and if spotted and verified the National Bee Unit will trace and eradicate this nest.
Welbeck is currently the furthest monitoring site from the city and over the spring months we have been monitoring for newly emerged AH queens but will now be switching to monitor for the worker.
Please be vigilant for the Asian hornet, download the Asian hornet app, snap a picture or contact the Plymouth Beekeepers Association which will send a verifier to you, better yet do all of the above.
If you would like any further information about our Bees and ideally our honey please get in touch