Heather 2018

[mbc]

The Drysgol on the black mountain and Pen Taircarn still looks very dull and gloomy I went up there last weekend and a lot of the ling was open , although - none of the apiaries with access to the heather seem to have foraged anything off the hillsides. It's still as dry as a nun's nasty up there.

Diolch Mr Jenkins

 

[AndyTh]

I'm not one for shadenfraud but I breathed a sigh of relief reading that as due to other family commitments I've not taken a trailer or two of bees to the heather for the first time in about twenty years. I usually go to the Brecon beacons, anybody else got reports from South Wales?

Just this afternoon been up near Blaenavon to take a look near a site we have used. The area of thin soils over mine workings has virtually all ling plants scorched completely by dry summer (sadly this is the closest heather in most recent summers). But there are patches of ling flowering well at 400+ metres away where soil/peat is thicker, on sides of gullies running off the tops, and on the top plateau. It's not a great strong flowering, but, and I know I'm 3 weeks later than usual, I am tempted to take just 2 or 3 hives up to see what they can make of what flower there is. This part of South Wales missed the summer rain, but where there was rain in July, e.g. Exmoor, and where deep peat underlies the heather, then maybe localised heather will be flowing (Hivemaker reports heavy flows on Exmoor). As Clint Eastwood said once "Well, do ya feel lucky, punk?" As I a serial optimist, I think I'll give it a go and bite the bullet. Oh, and there is quite a bit of soil moisture there now, at least in the top couple or 3 inches of topsoil. Fingers crossed (and v relieved I don't rely on heather honey as my income like some on here do!)

 

[alfazer]

I'm having no luck over here in NI, northwest / Sperrins area. Last year was very good with strong ling flow from around 10th Aug. Bloom much less than last year and virtually nothing in the frames. I keep some bees year-round at an apiary on the edge of the heather and have one small colony there with no supers. They are using up their stores with the recent bad weather, despite one or two days of strong flow last week. I assume that's what happening to my "production" colonies too.

 

[nantmoel]

The heather with me has been scorched, the rain we have had was about 6 weeks too late, in fact lots of forage failed due to the heat.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Talking about heather I've been talking to the landowner of where I live , and he as agreed to me planting trees and heather.ive been planting trees for 10 years but now im keeping bee's more heather up here would be of benefit for the birds and the honey bees .. there has been some burning of the gorse to try and encourage the heather and other wild flowers, but it's not done enough imo . And I'm getting involved with this over the coming years .

 

[user 1914]

I had two colonies on moors above Skipton from 8 August to 4 September. I could see on arrival on 8 August that flowering was well advanced, so it would have been good to have started earlier. I would have but the moor had been closed due to fire risk and it took a while for access to be returned. The bees made some honey in the first week, nothing afterwards. The gamekeeper said that much of the heather had been damaged by late frosts in May, hence the brown look all over. The numbers of young grouse were well down, due to poor growth of new shoots on the heather plants. Dismal all round!

 

[Beefriendly]

Sounds similar to North Yorks Moors. Fortunately went up early so reasonable harvest. However, some colonies I took up on the 7th had filled and nearly capped a super by the 14th had not progressed much further last week. The extra supers I had added to other colonies were untouched.
Looks like the nectar flow came to an abrupt halt mid-August.
I've never brought bees back from the moors so early...Although there is still some heather in flower, it;'s been cold so presumably no nectar.

 

[alfazer]

I've only been trying heather for a couple of years but I heard that it's best to go without the queen excluder for ling heather in mid August. So this year I tried just that but I got some brood in a few super frames.

I got very little honey anyway so just placed the whole super and brood under the brood chamber for the winter. But for next year...should I try the excluder-less approach again? Was there something I did wrong in terms of colony management or is a little brood just one of those things? Or did I get the brood because the flow was poor?

 

[Beefriendly]

I've only been trying heather for a couple of years but I heard that it's best to go without the queen excluder for ling heather in mid August. So this year I tried just that but I got some brood in a few super frames.

Every time I've tried that crap advice I had exactly the same happen. It may work with mongrel bees that might produce only 20lbs /hive...but we work on 80lbs/average. Down this year though.

 

[SDM]

80lb average on Heather or for the season ?

 

[Beefriendly]

About 80lb average just on the heather for the previous 2 seasons, down this year...don't know until extracted, but probably 50ish.

 

[SDM]

About 80lb average just on the heather for the previous 2 seasons, down this year...don't know until extracted, but probably 50ish.

Damn! Wish I lived near some better condition Heather.
This year it'll be around 6lb/hive on the heather and I'm not convinced that'll turn out to be Heather honey. In a complete reversal of summer fortunes that average has been pushed up by my black colonies and not my Buckfast.

 

[Beefriendly]

Damn! Wish I lived near some better condition Heather.
This year it'll be around 6lb/hive on the heather and I'm not convinced that'll turn out to be Heather honey. In a complete reversal of summer fortunes that average has been pushed up by my black colonies and not my Buckfast.

Its forage availability, strong hives and good warm weather that seem to be key.
We had the opposite on the Borage, we usually expect around 70+lbs per hive. This year as it suffered badly from the drought, we garnered 16lbs/hive over the 4 weeks they spend there. I have a solitary bucket of the stuff left to see my borage honey aficionados through the next 12 months. We had strong hives and good weather but no forage...
I moved those same hives to the heather and they each filled a super and nearly capped it in the first 7/8 days they were there. Then the heather flow stopped for all hives there.

 

[SDM]

Conditions have been as good as any other year I can think off since the end of July but much of it was already dead. No shortage of strong hives went up either, the hills simply didn't colour up . 3 yrs ago I had a 60lb average, more than anyone else I knew of locally but we just don't have the expanses or quality of Heather they have elsewhere, they've been poorly managed ,shrinking and over grazed for decades. However, I've seen summer harvests the like of which I may never see again, so it's swings and roundabouts as always. I'll be back up there next year in the hope of a harvest and to pollinate a flower or two so that maybe one day it'll be better.