Summer feeding

[abbot ale]

I live in Lincolnshire and there isn't much in the fields for the bees to feed on.
Looking elsewhere on forum and it seems its a problem in many parts of the UK when I inspected today there are loads of brood but hardly any honey stores. So to help them along I have given them a 1:1 syrup mix have i done the right thing and when will the honey situation pick up

 

[Erichalfbee]

Any concentration is fine if they need it.
I feed only invert or 2:1 if I’ve run out.
Balsam and ivy to come. Have a look round.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Any concentration is fine if they need it.
I feed only invert or 2:1 if I’ve run out.
Balsam and ivy to come. Have a look round.

2 months off thank heavens.

 

[pargyle]

I live in Lincolnshire and there isn't much in the fields for the bees to feed on.
Looking elsewhere on forum and it seems its a problem in many parts of the UK when I inspected today there are loads of brood but hardly any honey stores. So to help them along I have given them a 1:1 syrup mix have i done the right thing and when will the honey situation pick up

In your location the best you can hope for at present is domestic gardens, allotments and any corporation parks where there is planting - much of Lincolnshire is becoming mostly huge fields of nothing that will help the bees at this time of the year - hedgerows (where they have been left or replanted with the aid of grants) tend to be clipped to extinction and whatever few wildflowers that grow struggle with the cocktail of weedkillers used to keep the grain crops free of weed seeds... as Dani said - best spend some time walking round a mile or so radius of your apiary and noting down what, if anything, is in flower and what plants are likely to give them something between now and autumn.

Your best hope of honey is next year if anyone plants rape near you. You could try canvassing your local council to wildflower verges (and not cut them !) or look for a local farmer who is taking advantage of the field margins subsidy and ask him to sow bee plants among them. Sadly in some parts of the UK the predictions and reality of 'Silent Spring' are already here.
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[The Poot in Somerset]

Where I am the hedgerows tend to be cut every year to meet E.U. rules and the fields are largely grass for sileage. Oddly, where there’s a good amount of white clover in the grass, I hardly ever see a bee on it. Bramble this year are odd bits appearing intermittently in the hedges.

 

[Erichalfbee]

What eu rules apply to hedge cutting?

 

[abbot ale]

It paints a grim picture but yes I think your right we have never really had a good honey crop

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What eu rules apply to hedge cutting?

None - bit like straight bananas
Talking to some of my farming family, the biggest pressure is from highwaysnto ensure there's not too much overgrowth,especially on rural roads, which may inconvenience the odd townie worying about their chelsea tractor getting scratched from an out of control hawthorn twig

 

[Erichalfbee]

None - bit like straight bananas
Talking to some of my farming family, the biggest pressure is from highwaysnto ensure there's not too much overgrowth,especially on rural roads, which may inconvenience the odd townie worying about their chelsea tractor getting scratched from an out of control hawthorn twig

I understand the road visibility aspect but why manicure field hedgerows with a gusto verging on OCD
Luckily I see increasing numbers of hedges bordering roads are cut just on the road side.

 

[Amari]

In your location the best you can hope for at present is domestic gardens, allotments and any corporation parks where there is planting
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We have a large allotment. Apart from the occasional self-seeded borage there is nothing in bloom.

 

[pargyle]

We have a large allotment. Apart from the occasional self-seeded borage there is nothing in bloom.

I have cultivated blackberry, runner and green beans, comfrey, strawberries, cucumbers, autumn raspberries, all currently in flower and bees seem attracted to most of it, although the comfrey appears to be mainly the preserve of bumbles. I have a couple of parnsiips I left from last year that are in flower and covered in bees.

 

[monarda]

Just fed 2 nucs but in the garden bees are particularly enjoying the marjoram,my wifes collection of hardy geraniums,persicaria ,meadowsweet and clove r in the lawn. Not much activity in veg plot but they do seem to love the big flowers of the courgettes and various squashs. No signs of HB yet.
Dave

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

What eu rules apply to hedge cutting?

I have a relative, who’s farm has been “set aside” for a number of years. I know that’s not the case now, but she was required to cut hedges to a specific height and spread to qualify for payment.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have a relative, who’s farm has been “set aside” for a number of years. I know that’s not the case now, but she was required to cut hedges to a specific height and spread to qualify for payment.

I wondered if it might have been something like that from your earlier comment.
Seems barmy to me!

 

[Etton]

I live in Lincolnshire and there isn't much in the fields for the bees to feed on.
Looking elsewhere on forum and it seems its a problem in many parts of the UK when I inspected today there are loads of brood but hardly any honey stores. So to help them along I have given them a 1:1 syrup mix have i done the right thing and when will the honey situation pick up

I am feeding a number of my hives with low stores meaning that even if i wanted to take some honey off later, i cant anyway, as sugar syrup is contaminating the honey.
Hope 2021 is a better year!

 

[philipm]

This years been the best year yet for wildlife think not cutting the hedgerows back has helped a lot. We have loads of clover in the fields this year but the weather has been too cold for it. Noticed this week that the dandelions are coming into flower again.