Recent content by OrchardBees

I've got a long Sarcococca hedge that's heaving with bees on sunny days. The smell is almost overpowering!

We're not at the 'all birds to be kept under cover' stage yet this year, but it will undoubtedly come at some point. At the moment, it's 'implement good bio-security measures'. Suppliers should be informing everyone who buys from them about AI and the implications for winter housing requirements.

Yes, just starting. Worse in my right hand. I've been using the braces at night, and it's reversed it amazingly well. Still one small patch of numbness on one finger, but the electric shocks have all gone.

I use buckets from Richard for pottery glazes. If you need other sizes/shapes, ask him. I've had several different types.

Thank you. I really needed them, I've only got a pitiful number of bees in a nuc at the moment. I might actually have something good to take into the winter now!

Yesterday was the first day of good weather since then, and I got this!

I put a bait hive out late on Monday afternoon, and by lunchtime on Tuesday there were about 30 bees checking it out, with half a dozen still there at 5.30 (East Sussex). I really hope I get something, I've had a terrible spring.

Hello from Herstmonceux!

40ft long, not high!

Despite one of its common names being Christmas Box, it's not Box (Buxus), you'd be fine!

I agree, it's fantastic. At a distance, when you just catch a hint of it, but this quantity, under your windows, can be too much. Ignore the mess! It's a good hedge; evergreen, bushy, fast-growing. This one is cut twice a year to contain it. It's starting to go over now. You can see all the...

Yes, but en masse it's a bit overpowering. Rather reminiscent of burning plastic!

Mine are going beserk on a 40ft Sarcococca hedge (white pollen = pretty white faces). The noise was incredible!

Osmanthus is great for pollinators too. Mine flowers twice a year (it's about to start now, and then again in the late summer) and it's always covered with insects. Evergreen, not too fussed about soil/light and very fragrant (I think it smells like burning plastic, but I've got 50ft of it, so...

I've put a single and a double on my wish list (birthday coming up) and plan to use them as templates for making my own. I'll find that easier than following an online plan/template.