National Honey Monitoring Scheme

[simonwig]

Hi

Last years results have been posted.

It would be interesting to see what the top pollen sources were and any oddities from anyone else who took part.

For my June 21 sample, Wood forget-me-not 56%, Wild Garlic 11%, Sycamore 9% and Ilex perado 6%

For my August 21, White Clover, 32, Wild Garlic, 16%, Wood forget-me-not and Garden Radish 8% each.

Strangest plant, Ilex perado, the Macaronesian holly endemic to Macaronesia (Azores and Canaries) .

Simon

 

[JamezF]

Strangest plant, Ilex perado, the Macaronesian holly endemic to Macaronesia (Azores and Canaries) .

That's one hell of a foraging trip

James

 

[simonwig]

That's one hell of a foraging trip

James

Scuppers the 3 feet or 3 miles rule....

 

[Amari]

Hi

Last years results have been posted.

It would be interesting to see what the top pollen sources were and any oddities from anyone else who took part.

For my June 21 sample, Wood forget-me-not 56%, Wild Garlic 11%, Sycamore 9% and Ilex perado 6%

For my August 21, White Clover, 32, Wild Garlic, 16%, Wood forget-me-not and Garden Radish 8% each.

Strangest plant, Ilex perado, the Macaronesian holly endemic to Macaronesia (Azores and Canaries) .

Simon

My sample was taken 16/06/21. Water content 17.8%. 10 species identified:

Brassica rapa (turnip) - c. 54%
B. oleracea (cabbage) - c.27%
Brassica spp - 12%
Brassica jancea (Chinese mustard)- c. 7%
Then dribs and drabs of five other spp.

Now, I can assure you that there's not a single turnip or cabbage growing within miles of my apiary. However looking at the local crop pie-chart provided with my results, the only Brassica is OSR - about 25% of the pie. Cereals (wheat and barley) account for 60% and sugar beat 15%.
I took this up with Anna last year as the results of the 2020 sample were similar . She explained that the identification of different brassica spp pollens is imprecise, hence the cornucopia of spp identified.
I wonder if the pollens are identified by an automated system or by eyeballing?

 

[user 819]

06 June 2021.
13 species.
Wood forget me not 37%
Sycamore 21%
Brassica turnip/rape 17%
IIex Perado 13%
Brassica cabbage 8%
Green alkanet 0.5%
Bulbous buttercup 0.5%
The remaining 3%, IIex hydera, Allium onion, Dames violet, Pieres Formosa, Common nettle & Allium chives.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Last years crop was a disaster Got very little because to the rubbish weather,
Ive asked a friend if watercress pollen is over represented

 

[Jimmy]

I wonder if the pollens are identified by an automated system or by eyeballing?

Identification is by DNA analysis. Modern OSR varieties will during their breeding process have some distant Brassica relatives involved and I don't think the DNA analysis can tell the difference between a domesticated hybrid OSR with DNA/genes from an eclectic mix of Brassicacae and an individual wild relative.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ive asked a friend if watercress pollen is over represented

And the answer is yes. It has a pollen coefficient of 150 and is a brassica

 

[StephenT]

Despite living in the London suburbs, about 55% was from Brassica Maurorum which I haven’t got a clue about and cannot find much about on the internet. Anyone got any ideas? The rest makes sense although I could have sworn that this honey had a zingy lime taste.

 

[Ian123]

Despite living in the London suburbs, about 55% was from Brassica Maurorum which I haven’t got a clue about and cannot find much about on the internet. Anyone got any ideas? The rest makes sense although I could have sworn that this honey had a zingy lime taste.
View attachment 33102

Isn’t it just an analysis of pollen content not the honey.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Isn’t it just an analysis of pollen content not the honey.

Yes. Though you can work out what the honey is.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Despite living in the London suburbs, about 55% was from Brassica Maurorum which I haven’t got a clue about and cannot find much about on the internet. Anyone got any ideas? The rest makes sense although I could have sworn that this honey had a zingy lime taste.
View attachment 33102

The brassica pollens are very small and not filtered out by the bees’ proventriculus. Therefore they are over represented appearing in high numbers. So foraging on a relatively small number of plants will give a large number of those pollen grains in your sample

 

[simonwig]

Yes. Though you can work out what the honey is.

Is there a direct link between pollen ratio and nectar ratio? Be interesting to read more.
Simon

 

[Erichalfbee]

Is there a direct link between pollen ratio and nectar ratio? Be interesting to read more.
Simon

Yes. There is a pollen coefficient you use to work it out. Most of it is beyond me
https://www.beeculture.com/why-honey-pollen-is-difficult-to-interpret/

 

[simonwig]

Yes. There is a pollen coefficient you use to work it out. Most of it is beyond me
https://www.beeculture.com/why-honey-pollen-is-difficult-to-interpret/

Thanks Dani
Will see if I can make any sense of it in the morning.
Simon

 

[JamezF]

My sample was taken 16/06/21. Water content 17.8%. 10 species identified:

Brassica rapa (turnip) - c. 54%
B. oleracea (cabbage) - c.27%
Brassica spp - 12%
Brassica jancea (Chinese mustard)- c. 7%
Then dribs and drabs of five other spp.

Now, I can assure you that there's not a single turnip or cabbage growing within miles of my apiary. However looking at the local crop pie-chart provided with my results, the only Brassica is OSR - about 25% of the pie.

I believe at least one of the Brassica rapa subspecies may be grown for oil and not all of them are turnips either (I discovered this by accident a while back when looking for information about rapini, which is a leaf vegetable form of Brassica rapa). Perhaps it's therefore possible that what's labelled as turnip is actually some of your local OSR?

James

 

[drex]

With regard to a pollen/nectar ratio.
I thought that the pollen coefficient was because some flowers will produce lots of pollen and some will produce only little. Hence, those that produce lots of pollen will appear to be over represented in a sample of pollen, and the coefficient is to adjust for this. This is what I thought I picked up from my microscopy course..
Just because bees bring in pollen from a certain plant does not necessarily mean that they bring in nectar from that plant, although they often do. Correct me if I am wrong

 

[Erichalfbee]

With regard to a pollen/nectar ratio.
I thought that the pollen coefficient was because some flowers will produce lots of pollen and some will produce only little. Hence, those that produce lots of pollen will appear to be over represented in a sample of pollen, and the coefficient is to adjust for this. This is what I thought I picked up from my microscopy course..
Just because bees bring in pollen from a certain plant does not necessarily mean that they bring in nectar from that plant, although they often do. Correct me if I am wrong

I think I might tag Margaret to see if she can explain @Margaret Anne Adams

 

[elainemary]

Wood forget me not is the tiniest pollen so is always massively over represented and doesn’t yield much in the way of honey

My spring samples show sycamore as the big nectar producer and heather and balsam for the summer

 

[Margaret Anne Adams]

I have explained everything that you are discussing and more, in great detail in my book, with illustrations, and how to determine the plant sources of your own honey. I wrote the book specially for beekeepers so that the analyses can be done safely at home. There is one thing you have to do first (instructions given) and that is to make pollen slides from the flowers your bees have access to. You must do this because there are over 320,000 flowering plants and you can reduce the possibilities down to 100 - 200, making analysing your honey possible. The book costs £28.99, but if you get it from Northern Bee Books as opposed to Amazon, it will be printed on top quality glossy paper.