Green desert

[polomadh]

I have just been to one of my Abelo poly hives that I was asked to put in a garden in the middle of “nowhere”. It has a large meadow of around 1-2 acres that the owners are rewilding, but apart from that it is surrounded by large fields used for cattle grazing.

A month or so ago it had 1 capped and full super and one filling super, so I thought I would be extracting one super, however when I checked it was pretty much starving, having consumed the stores. In a bumper year for my other hives it was really surprising to see so little stores at this time of year.

There were no signs of wasps, and the hive is otherwise healthy.

It was the same last year, I didn’t take any honey. I had a hive and a nuc in the same place, but only the nuc made it through.

My point is that it is really alarming that there is so little forage in areas that would be considered “the country side of green fields”. It’s not surprising that there is so little wildlife in the countryside if there isn’t sufficient to support honeybees.

Feeling very sad and alarmed.

 

[The Poot]

I have just been to one of my Abelo poly hives that I was asked to put in a garden in the middle of “nowhere”. It has a large meadow of around 1-2 acres that the owners are rewilding, but apart from that it is surrounded by large fields used for cattle grazing.

A month or so ago it had 1 capped and full super and one filling super, so I thought I would be extracting one super, however when I checked it was pretty much starving, having consumed the stores. In a bumper year for my other hives it was really surprising to see so little stores at this time of year.

There were no signs of wasps, and the hive is otherwise healthy.

It was the same last year, I didn’t take any honey. I had a hive and a nuc in the same place, but only the nuc made it through.

My point is that it is really alarming that there is so little forage in areas that would be considered “the country side of green fields”. It’s not surprising that there is so little wildlife in the countryside if there isn’t sufficient to support honeybees.

Feeling very sad and alarmed.

I have the same around me and have to be careful to avoid starvation. It’s been the worst I’ve known this August - nothing coming in.
If it wasn’t for brambles in the field boundary hedges, the bees would have a very difficult time. Around this time all the hedges are savagely cut back, losing the berries and fruits that the birds rely on, creating the green desert effect you describe.
I started feeding at an early stage this year and it’s proving difficult to get the hives to a good weight, with ivy nowhere near flowering yet.
I share your sadness…..

 

[Anduril]

I have just been to one of my Abelo poly hives that I was asked to put in a garden in the middle of “nowhere”. It has a large meadow of around 1-2 acres that the owners are rewilding, but apart from that it is surrounded by large fields used for cattle grazing.

A month or so ago it had 1 capped and full super and one filling super, so I thought I would be extracting one super, however when I checked it was pretty much starving, having consumed the stores. In a bumper year for my other hives it was really surprising to see so little stores at this time of year.

There were no signs of wasps, and the hive is otherwise healthy.

It was the same last year, I didn’t take any honey. I had a hive and a nuc in the same place, but only the nuc made it through.

My point is that it is really alarming that there is so little forage in areas that would be considered “the country side of green fields”. It’s not surprising that there is so little wildlife in the countryside if there isn’t sufficient to support honeybees.

Feeling very sad and alarmed.

When I look at an out apiary site, I look at the hedgerows to see what plants are there. If the owners are rewilding, are they using plants suitable for honeybees.
When I first started out, my first out apiary turned out to be unsuitable, admittedly the fields were arable land, but the hedgerows couldn't sustain one hive.

 

[philipm]

I very rarely cut the hedges around our fields so usually plenty of forage, but this year has been so up and down with the weather that the bees have been unable to get much for days on end.Yesterday even though it was raining they were all over the ivy.

 

[ericbeaumont]

very rarely cut the hedges around our fields

Are you a farmer, Philip? For a long while I've wanted to know why farmers flail hedges to that suburban height. Can understand it if a hedge affects access or road safety, but they savage them everywhere.

Think of the labour, the fuel, the machinery! Why do it?

 

[madasafish]

Are you a farmer, Philip? For a long while I've wanted to know why farmers flail hedges to that suburban height. Can understand it if a hedge affects access or road safety, but they savage them everywhere.

Think of the labour, the fuel, the machinery! Why do it?

Either council contracted to or legal duty

 

[Erichalfbee]

Either council contracted to or legal duty

Around fields?
Roadside I can understand

 

[The Poot]

Are you a farmer, Philip? For a long while I've wanted to know why farmers flail hedges to that suburban height. Can understand it if a hedge affects access or road safety, but they savage them everywhere.

Think of the labour, the fuel, the machinery! Why do it?

I found the requirements set out on an NFU site, which don’t reflect what’s happening. Here, the field hedges are flailed every year.
I’ve never seen an assessment carried out before flailing, but I may continually miss them…..

 

[ericbeaumont]

hedges are flailed every year

Thanks for the info, Mr Poot; you notice that it fails to regulate final hedge height or width. Were it to do so, an increase in hedge wildlife would result. As it is, some I have seen have been reduced to a metre. Don't farmers want to reduce wind erosion and trespass? I've just had a chat with a farmer about illegal hare-coursing on his land by travellers, but his short hedges makes access too easy.

Hedge rules in force since 23 May 2024, but without mention of dimension: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hedgerow-management-rules-cutting-and-trimming

BE3 option of the RPA payments requires a hedge to be 2m high and 1.5m wide and cut variably, but this looks to be the luxury environmental option. https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/management-of-hedgerows-be3

 

[The Poot]

Thanks for the info, Mr Poot; you notice that it fails to regulate final hedge height or width. Were it to do so, an increase in hedge wildlife would result. As it is, some I have seen have been reduced to a metre. Don't farmers want to reduce wind erosion and trespass? I've just had a chat with a farmer about illegal hare-coursing on his land by travellers, but his short hedges makes access too easy.

Hedge rules in force since 23 May 2024, but without mention of dimension: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hedgerow-management-rules-cutting-and-trimming

BE3 option of the RPA payments requires a hedge to be 2m high and 1.5m wide and cut variably, but this looks to be the luxury environmental option. https://www.gov.uk/countryside-stewardship-grants/management-of-hedgerows-be3

I recall a farmer telling me, in the days of set aside, that her hedges had to be cut annually to certain heights, in order to qualify for EU sponsored subsidies. She said that land was surveyed from the air to verify conformity. Perhaps old habits die hard.
I don’t think farmers would spend so much on diesel and contractors if it wasn’t in some way financially beneficial or mandatory.

 

[ericbeaumont]

don’t think farmers would spend so much on diesel and contractors if it wasn’t in some way financially beneficial or mandatory

You'd think so, but the basic regs don't determine height except when claiming from the the B3 enviro fund. I should have asked the farmer this morning, but I'll try and remember to do so when I take him honey next week.