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OSR mainly, but also cotoneaster and hawthorne.

One swarm already today (one of my hives). Queen clipped, so swarm returned on its own. Found Queen and replaced in hive. Artifical Swarm later.

I got my Buckfast Queens from The H*ney Be* S*ppliers and am very pleased with the bees and their temperaments. I've had them for a year now and keep them in the garden, no problems with stinging, etc, indeed I can mow the grass up to the hives without issues.

White clover!!!

I would agree with the ID as being Alder Buckthorne - Rhamnus frangula. Berries start as green, turn red, then finally dark purple to black in the autumn, but birds love the berries and scoff them as quickly as they ripen, so you may not see many berries in the darker shades!

Lovely warm day here. Lot of bee activity from 8am this morning, all day and still busy! OSR and apple blossom being harvested by bees. Not much pollen seen going into hives this pm (more this morning) so assume a lot of nectar being taken in. Need a lot more days like this to get a harvest...

Go to the website for Somerset Bee Keepers Association and call the nearest swarm officer for assistance (loads on the website). Could be a good way to get to meet the local Bee Keepers too. Good luck!

Drone availability and temperature must play an important role in Queen mating. I think (hope) that my VQ in my nucleus went on a mating flight yesterday afternoon, as I saw the girls from that hive, were out in force and had formed a cluster on their return on one side of the nucleus. From...

Plenty drones here too.

Only 1 (from one of my hives too), however by the time I'd suited up, the girls had already gone home (clipped Queen!). Found HM and replaced her in hive (I'd already removed the queen cells).

First inspection for 10 days... did inspection at 9.45am this morning, removed Queen cells (sealed and open) from both hives, found both old queens (2011 marked). At 1.30pm, swarm took off and landed in neighbour's garden. Went straight around - swarm had already left... however it had gone...

Makes sense to me. Around here, only a small percentage of each plants flowers are out. Around 90% are still in tight bud and it doesn't seem to be changing much (probably as you say due to the cold weather). Fingers crossed for the next few weeks.

Cold and wet here - as per forecast, around 3C all day. Not much moving around the bee hives, but I tucked them up the other day with some syrup (all light on stores and no chance of getting much nectar at the moment). I checked some of the local OSR around us yesterday. Although the fields...

I chose the Bees on a Budget kit. Worked well for me. Bought it as a flat pack, simple enough to assemble. Th**nes had to replace Brood box though as the bars were faulty and I had glued them before realizing they were wrong (well it was my first one!). You soon end up buying more gear though...

I like Finman's description of where we are now as 'Swarming Fever'. As a newbie, I was wondering if this spring was normal! BTW, I did an AS last week, and today the nucleus had a lot of bee activity at the entrance for a few minutes, quite a few drones were there. Was this the end of the new...

Saw bees taking dandelion and OSR pollen into hives. Didn't open them up today.

Has the Queen been injured? Could be affecting her ability to lay?

I had a DLQ last year that neither I nor an expert could find (tried sieving, tried shaking 50 yards away). So divided the colony into 2 brood boxes, divided the 2 with a Queen Excluder. Left it for 3 days, than looked for half with newly laid eggs in. Moved BB with eggs (and DLQ) in to another...

Bees are multiplying fast! Had to do an AS (my first) into a nucleus from one of my hives and knock down Queen cells from the other. Ordering more deep foundation now... (saw both my Queens, so no swarms yet!).

Pear, plum and OSR. 20 fields of OSR within 1 mile of my apiary...quite a lot even closer, just coming out.