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ITLD, sorry but no acres of waterlillies in Worcestershire for you. How about Himalayan Balsam? Ogmore valley has acres, I've heard and readers may know of large areas nearer you in the Grampians? Temperature in Rothiemurchus over next 10 days stuck in the range of 15-17C, I see on the BBC. Yes...

Took 18 hives to mid Wales last Sunday, and ling didn't seem close to flowering; probably 1-2 weeks away? Got a good soaking in the early morning rain though. When it flowers, the ling is half a mile away up the hill, couldn't get closer. Just keeping fingers crossed for warmer weather in early...

Redwood, any update on the state of the ling on your nearby hills?

Not tallied yet but all 11 hives collected from Blaenavon area and 1 super filled per hive, so a good year.

Previous discussion in thread "Moving Hives" on about June 5th 2013 concluded bees memory is greater than 3 weeks.

That's good news BLDarren - I now have high hopes for my 5 hives on heather near Blaenavon, South Wales. I hope to visit this weekend to assess - and now expecting a better result than for several years past.

JB, Much appreciated, thank you. AndyT

JenkinsB, I should start a new thread for this query but how far is the heather progressing towards flowering on the hill near you? You may remember I asked the same last year about this time - go to the heather (Blaenavon) next weekend or the one after - what do you think? AndyT (Evesham BKA)

If your nuc has a virgin queen and needs to fly to get mated it is not a good idea to move the nuc's entrance as you risk losing the virgin queen on her next return from a mating flight. Just leave things as they are until you see eggs. You could work the bees below in the evenings after mating...

Sean, I Live in the Lenches, near Evesham Worcestershire, took bees to moors in Abergavenny area this year August 11th, returned 14th Sept. Last year took last week July, returned mid September. Much more heather honey last year than this, but possibly more pure this time than last as it did...

My 6 hives only returned 15lbs average this time , well down on last year but we went Aug 11th (lift not available earlier) so in future will get to the moors by end July.

Are there any other clues as to whether the colony is truly without a virgin or other duff queen? 2 hives of mine went Q- and it was obvious something wasn't right as they were right bu**ers as soon as the crown board was off, and they would not react to the smoker! There wasn't any robbing and...

Thanks JBM, couple of us took 12 hives up onto moors near Blaenavon on 11th and were surprised that heather generally was into early bloom, but on areas of old mine workings where soil is thin the heather had no blossom and had been scorched in the recent hot spell. Although 2 weeks later to...

Farmer in S Wales said the heather is a bit behind (as has been the entire summer) and hasn't started blooming yet! Must be well in flower by now surely?

Anyone know whether the ling is in flower on the South Wales moorlands yet?

Any sign of the ling in flower on the South Wales hills yet (JB...)?

JenkinsBryn is right imo. A swarm took up home on my drive and after a week I took them 5 miles away for them to re-orientate; they were away for 2-3 weeks (I could not find in the literature any reference to how long it takes bees to forget their previous home). I then returned them to my home...

Today (May 3rd) have driven from Truro up A30 to Exeter and M5 to Worcestershire. Hawthorn greening up nicely but none in flower yet. Plenty of blackthorn/sloe, damson and lots of cherry in full flower; dandelions also and the last of the pussy willow still in flower. Not much OSR in flower...

Me neither, even taking pencil thick cuttings in autumn didn't work for me. Garden books advice leads me to believe taking salix cuttings in spring less successful, especially of twigs with the catkins on. I've tried for 3 or 4 years, and am trying again this winter. It doesn't help having a...

Into The Lions Den (ILTD) is a serious commercial beekeeper - he has commented on this board that he finds at the heather moors, colonies with broodboxes as supers produce more honey than those with traditional supers. An interesting observation and a topic for conjecture as to why this might...