2020 continues to be a challenging year for everyone, but back in the spring we tried to mitigate things a little for our bees. We decided to turn over a section of our land to provide forage for pollinating insects; we're very lucky here to have the space to do that! In April the field was ploughed and we spent a few back-breaking days clearing it of roots and stones, then after the earth was tilled, we had fun sowing around 5kg of mixed wildflower seed. Stunning purple phacelia was the first to appear at the end of May, then over the next few months cornflowers, calendula, cosmos, zinnia, crimson clover, poppies and anemones showed up in force. Our delight was shared with that of bumble bees, honey bees, butterflies and many more, and we are overjoyed to see that the flowers are still blooming even in mid November. Even better, new young phacelia plants are growing again, so hopefully we'll have some early flowers next year too. With everything else going on in the world, the spirits are certainly lifted when a cloud of purple and pink blossoms greet you on a gloomy day.
Unfortunately the Asian
hornets are also thriving this year, and our bees have been under
sustained attack for a couple of months now. We have done our best to
protect them by fitting muzzles on the hives and restricting the
entrances so that the hornets can't get in. We've also put out several
traps which are specifically designed to trap Asian hornets, minimising
the amount of other insects that are caught. As yet we haven't been able
to find the nest which is a real shame, but we're hoping that the
coming winter will mean the workers will die off and we'll have trapped
young queens before they go into hibernation. We'll be ready for them
when they emerge in a couple of months, and will do our utmost to trap
them before they start making new nests.
Here's to better days...
