Abbots Langley Garden Society Bees

 

"Summer's arrived! The bees have swung into action and the nectar flow, according to all the local beekeepers, has been fantastic. The warm sunshine and the sharp showers have been ideal for foraging bees. Hopefully you will have seen loads of them in your gardens? Unfortunately it has also been an ideal season for swarming. One at least of our colonies has swarmed despite out best efforts to prevent it happening. On the other hand Chris and I have collected 3 swarms and have had to turn down further requests to collect more swarms as we just do not have the facilities to hive any more colonies this year.

 

The gardening society's apiary has done very well this year and we are looking forward to spending several hours over the next few weeks taking the honey frames off the hives, extracting the honey from the frames, filtering the honey after it has been left to settle for a few days, then jarring it up and labelling the jars ready for sale. All being well, we aim to have honey for sale at our first social evening in September.

 

We have been called out to numerous requests for help with bees this summer, not just honeybees swarming, but bumble bees nesting in roofs and sheds, compost heaps and bird boxes. Sadly we cannot always collect a honeybee swarm if it is in too dangerous a position, ie too high up, or in a chimney, but there is nothing we can do at all about bumble bee nests, except attempt to move them from, eg, beside a path. If you have been worried about a bumble bee nest nearby, we would advise that as they will be gone by the end of the summer, if you can put up with them for the next few weeks, please leave them alone. They are responsible for pollinating the majority of your tomato plants, etc, so they provide a vital role in our gardening activities.

 

We are also on the lookout for the dreaded Asian Hornet, not to be confused with our British Hornet. The Asian type is mostly black, whereas our native British species is black and bright yellow. The Asian Hornet eats honeybees and will attack beehives. Added to that, they have a very painful sting and will attack people if they inadvertently approach a hornet nest. Even a beesuit would not protect you from the Asian Hornet. These creatures are on DEFRA's 'notifiable' list, so if you think you spot one, take a photo of it if you can and send it in to DEFRA - then keep well clear of it. They may not have crossed over The Channel yet from France, but we beekeepers are on our guard.

 

If you are interested in finding out more about beekeeping, contact Chris or me through Abbots Langley Gardening Society's website

 

Kate Macnish"