pooring of rain but..

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wightbees

Queen Bee
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Location
Isle Of Wight
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National
Number of Hives
How long is a piece of string
I couldn't believe it , i went and checked my hives at 3pm only a visual look as i'm off on holiday and it was my only chance to have a look. My island bees are out flying , they must bee nuts it's tipping it down but it doesn't stop them .As for my buckfast type didn't see any of them.
 
My Buckfasts are frantically busy - they look very bedraggled, but it's actually been fairly warm today so I suppose they can just about manage to fly even if they're really wet.

They're very excited by the second flowering of Himalayan balsam alongside the canal, and of course the ivy.... apparently they'll put up with quite heavy rain just to get at it. Plus, the ivy is under overhanging trees nearby, and this probably shelters them a bit.
 
Ahh i expect all my bucks are under the ivy then :)
 
The same here in Cornwall - fusia bush was heaving with them even though it was literally stair rodding down with rain. Clinging on for dear life they were, very soggy bees. My prediction is that there is a very very hard winter to come. Old country theory says that if the hawthorn and holly have more berries than usual its a sign of a hard winter to come. And here they are groaning under the weight of berries.
 
My prediction is that there is a very very hard winter to come. Old country theory says that if the hawthorn and holly have more berries than usual its a sign of a hard winter to come. And here they are groaning under the weight of berries.

My mother used to say that too, but unless the plants all knew months ago that the winter ahead was going to be hard they would not have been able to prepare, which suggests that perhaps so many of our plants are actually sentient beings. Either that or the production of so much bounty actually causes a bad winter.

So what are the theories regarding cause and effect? I did remark earlier in the year that the hawthorne blossom seemed very heavy this year. More a reaction to the transition from a hard winter into a late spring perhaps?
 
We have two rowan bushes which are ALWAYS covered in berries. Every year. Whatever the winter..
(until the fieldfares descend en masse and after that there are no berries).

A lot depends on the spring/summer weather.

We had a very hard winter, late frosts and a cold spring, hot then till June and then wet and cold July /August. Result - lovely apples, damsons and pears. Damson harvest best tasting for years..
 

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