Recent content by simonwig

According to the ObsIdentify App (recommend it if you like IDing odd bugs/plants etc): First one is Honeysuckle saw fly Abia lonicerae (as per Dani) Second one is Nest Skipper Fly Neottiophilum praeustum, the larvae is a parasite of birds nest (or the occupants!) Simon

Fabulous!

For a standard Abelo super I just cut down a standard castellation to fit, so a 10er becomes 9. I pin and glue. Simon

The NBU have now issued a guide to monitoring. It mentions both trapping and bait stations, and doesn't, as they did in the recent presentation, give advice on only trapping in the designated high risk areas. Available here...

Basic stats for 2023

BBKA are hosting an online conference about the Asian hornet including an update from the NBU. Starts at 10.00 today. https://www.bbka.org.uk/asian-hornet-events Simon

Hi all Seems Thornes have a flash sale on, large range of goodies, ends Monday. Simon

Hi If you visit The Apiarist's blog (@fatshark) he has a design using scaffold jack legs which are adjustable, which means you can (fairly) easily make them higher or lower depending on how they suit you, your ground and your height. I've made them using 3" X 3" fence posts as the main bearers...

Maybe, maybe not, but it's not happened for me before, and the filling of two frames in a couple of days is a pretty good indicator. Simon

I took all my supers off at the beginning of the week. On one hive they'd started overnight to draw comb on the underside of the clearer board, so I gave them a drawn super and in two days they'd filled a couple of frames, so they clearly needed the space. Most didn't however. Not expecting it...

Something odd with their email I think, I got 9 emails in quick succession about the species results from one sample (June 22) ..... Simon

Brief update, quick look today and there's a laying queen in there, now the journey really starts! Simon

They were found by the young (5ish) granddaughter of our customer, so my (wishful) hope would be to give her some honey from them (well their sisters) next year! Simon

Thanks, that's my plan Already got 5 frames and top feeder for my Apidea so no cost and more interesting than learning to whistle dixy in Arabic backwards. Simon

Well I've popped them in a mating nucleus, will add a few more bees, then wait and see if there's a queen and if so is she mated, will she get mated? Simon