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pargyle

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Some vile weather up North and heading south and west tomorrow.

Keep safe everyone, your bees will be clustered and awaiting spring.

Just very wet and cold down here in the Costa del Fareham - not pleasant but at least we don't have snow and ice.
 

Ian123

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Some vile weather up North and heading south and west tomorrow.

Keep safe everyone, your bees will be clustered and awaiting spring.

Just very wet and cold down here in the Costa del Fareham - not pleasant but at least we don't have snow and ice.
Very much the same here even a few bees out briefly today.
 

Newbeeneil

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Yes, I had bees out today in the rain!
 
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A few of the girls were out collecting water today. No idea why they needed to leave the hives really though -- they could just have stuck their heads out of the entrance! The rain has at times been torrential, but between that and the temperature getting up over 12°C it did mean that yesterday's snow has all disappeared.

The forecast for the next few days is all over the place though -- some rain showers with daytime maximum temperatures ranging from 5°C to 12°C and nightime minimums from -1°C to 10°C.

James
 

Erichalfbee

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Some vile weather up North and heading south and west tomorrow.
WE battled to get home from Cumbria yesterday. Took us 7 hours. Had to detour the detour. Mountain roads closed but got to Machynlleth where there wasn't a scrap of snow all the way home. 7 hours.
 

Mabee

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We’ve got some snow and it’s below freezing but fairly normal for this time of year! Not the Beast from the East Mk2 that’s predicted every year at this time.
 

madasafish

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Snow, high winds yesterday. -4C overnight, daily high 2C.

Not seen any live bees for a week.
 

The Poot

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A few bees about yesterday, with much munching of fondant going on. Weather wet, draughty and cold, but well above freezing.
Currently wet and 37f. Will be adding fondant to one colony today.
 

Murox

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I have to smile at the bad weather reports above. Just for a change Ive been basking in wall to wall sunshine for the past few days, with the odd cloudy but dry one; with some stiff winds and temperature only around 3 degrees at best. Just now from the rear of my house looking towards Islay and Jura.
IMG_20230310_094839312_HDR 2.jpeg
 

The Poot

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I have to smile at the bad weather reports above. Just for a change Ive been basking in wall to wall sunshine for the past few days, with the odd cloudy but dry one; with some stiff winds and temperature only around 3 degrees at best. Just now from the rear of my house looking towards Islay and Jura.
View attachment 35420
What a vista! It compensates for the days you have to batten down the hatches?
 

Murox

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Yes everything is forgiven when the sun shines here. As you can see there is a lot of green desert, but where there is a glen there is good forage.
 

The Poot

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Well, the Beeb forecasts rain in the form of showers, light rain, heavy rain or drizzle, for every day up to the 27th.
A little different compared to last year. From my notes dated 29th March “The weather has been unseasonably warm, dry and sunny, with willow, plum etc flowering freely”

Lots of blackthorn in flower South of my patch, around Weymouth, but only bits and pieces in sheltered spots, flowering around here.
 

pargyle

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The Blackthorn is well into bloom around me, there are ornamental cherries also covered in blossom but outside of that it's Helebores, Crocus and Snowdrops ... the bees are not flying a lot and there is clearly little incentive as the weather is generally cold and damp down here. Not a great start to spring this year ... very different to last year.
 

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I’ve had a sneaky peak into some nucs and they’re definitely behind. It’s not been overly cold but it’s been grey and cold. We get plenty of cold nights and days early season, but there’s normally a good period during sunny days they can get out and forage. It’s these days and the pollen they gather that’s really been missing. There’s a few fluffy young bees in some of these nucs but little and patchy sealed brood, there’s plenty of eggs and some young larvae but it looks like it’s been stop start. I’ll look in a couple of larger hives when weather permits. Normally I’d expect to see the odd drone and some sealed drone brood in small quantities in larger hives.
 

The Poot

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The Blackthorn is well into bloom around me, there are ornamental cherries also covered in blossom but outside of that it's Helebores, Crocus and Snowdrops ... the bees are not flying a lot and there is clearly little incentive as the weather is generally cold and damp down here. Not a great start to spring this year ... very different to last year.
Its aggravating when there’s stuff out there but the weather says “no”.
Lots of sun today and both colonies flying, one far more than the other. It’s back to a high of 7c with cloud and rain tomorrow afternoon apparently☹️
 

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