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F stands for 'filial' generation; the offspring from mated parents. The offspring queen would continue to be F0 if she were cloned, but not if she is mated, since she will not be identical to her mother.

In case you've not come across this before - https://www.evacranetrust.org/

called oak apples around here

Joking aside, am just back from week on Jersey with a group from Lincs BKA helping volunteers track and locate nests (actually prob not much help, but learned an awful lot). Their main concern on Jersey is from low level nests in hedges. Last week two Agric workers had a trip to A&E after...

That is in relation to illegal migration. ITLD's post is about legal migration. We left the EU (inter alia) to take back control and manage our borders. So now we have to incentivise workers to travel to the UK from half way across the world, as we can't recruit from our own workforce for a...

Tbh I regard it as a guide rather than a rule; my bees are in a busy landscape - trees, hedges houses etc so no open clear sight lines. For me moving them 1-2 miles causes no problems, and a week is plenty long enough. It is only the fliers which needs to re-orientate, not those emerging.

Anorak alert...The most recent BSBI (Botanical Soc of the British Isles) atlas (2020) lists 4 species in the UK, or which two are native. Common Ivy, and then in the west Atlantic Ivy (Hedera hibernica). The two non-natives are Persian and Algerian ivy, the former of which is a common garden...

lots of ivy out here, and still the odd b/berry flower around. Bees piling in yellow pollen (ivy i guess) and ivy clad trees are humming. Not seen any ivy bees (Colletes) yet though.

Took my main honey crop off early August. Thought that was it, but they'd filled another 6 supers so extracted that yesterday. Brood boxes are clogged with stores, so undersupered yesterday as well. And the ivy here (Rutland) is just starting to come out in one or two places. Pretty sure I...

Lots of insects carry mites as passengers. It is called phoresis, although that relates to any organism, incl plants where seeds attach to other organisms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoresis

Buckwheat?

or a crow/magpie or similar.

Careful with simple correlations; they may, or may not be statistically significant. I remember at school being told there was a strong correlation between the widespread introduction of TV sets, and an increase in mental health. Statistics proved that was just a coincidence (however...

Bit of a panic weds evening; heard the tap, tap of bees of the glass in the woodburner trying to get out. Had a look at the chimney and a few bees flying around, so lit a smokey fire. Seemed to do the trick, but then saw several groups of 20 ish bees around the roof, tiles and gutters...

I guess a few on here have AH traps out; I'd be interested in reports of bycatch of the different traps. As one of my apiaries is a sentinel apiary (NBU analyse floor samples twice a year for Tropilealaps, small hive beetle, and Varroa (!)) my SBI asked if i would put up an AH trap, even though...

Well, they had a couple of frames, which they portioned up in advance. Apparently they sold really well, with cheese and biscuits, and wine. However, they have decided not to do it any more as the residual wax on the plates smeared over the wine glasses when washed up. An unforeseen issue (by me).

It's probably box moth, a recently established invasive species. A lot of formal gardens are having serious problems. https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/box-tree-caterpillar

Perhaps it is just simple timing. A 3 day old egg will be a queen 2 days earlier than a 1 day old egg, so better to start building that up first if they are in a hurry? (I've not read the paper, so aim off for that!)

thanks everyone; really helpful

Thanks; why would a frozen frame make (more) mess - too hard to cut; wax will shatter, or on,ly frozen to a'soft set' consistency?