What's flowering as forage in your area

[The Poot]

Amazing how specialised ologists can be. Thankyou

I suppose someone who studies ologists is an ologistologist?
Perhaps the plural of ologist should be ologi?

 

[JamezF]

Perhaps the plural of ologist should be ologi?

Ologodes

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Plural is ISTEN

 

[Moobee]

Good to see my wildflower patch coming on. Plenty of knapweed with bees interested.

I nearly pulled out a big clump of knapweed in the main flower bed. Googled it as didn’t recognise what it was (hasn’t flowered yet and is quite ugly), decided to leave it for the girls.

 

[Moobee]

Bit windy last couple of days so the home apiary bees seem to be staying closer to home. Foraging on in the garden on fennel, oregano, persicaria, mint and erigeron, but their favourite is still the sainfoin in the wildflower patch.
Verbena is flowering it’s socks off but seems to be more a favourite of the bumbles.

 

[Jonathan]

Himalayan Balsam is really starting to flower well near to some of my hives.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Himalayan Balsam is really starting to flower well near to some of my hives.

A teaching apiary I help at is about 200yrds from a river. Ghost bees a plenty.

 

[The Poot]

Bit windy last couple of days so the home apiary bees seem to be staying closer to home. Foraging on in the garden on fennel, oregano, persicaria, mint and erigeron, but their favourite is still the sainfoin in the wildflower patch.
Verbena is flowering it’s socks off but seems to be more a favourite of the bumbles.

That’s a great photo
My big persicaria patch is now flowering, but so far the bees are not interested. Last year they were all over it. I think there’s still quite a lot of bramble about, though it’s in patches now. I’ve been deadheading and cutting back geraniums, single flowered roses, nepeta etc over the last two weeks hoping to get a second flush of flowers for when the bramble is over. I think the bees might be a bit grumpy searching about for stuff.

 

[The Poot]

Himalayan Balsam is really starting to flower well near to some of my hives.

I’ve pulled up hundreds of stalks of it from my garden this year. The temptation was to let it grow (it arrived when the river overflowed in the late Autumn with seeds in the mud) for the bees, but it is too invasive, crowding out everything else. There’s swathes of it further down stream but the bees don’t seem to be very “ghostly” yet.

 

[Peter Welch]

the difference between blackberry and bramble is that bramble is the plant but blackberry is the fruit. Blackberry jam is correct but bramble jelly is not.

 

[Moobee]

Brambles are still flowering here and there in patches. Drove through the lanes nearby to help the father-in-law pick up a trailer load of muck for his allotment (as we have a trailer) and there was a strong smell of cabbage. Can just about see yellow flowers through the hedge which would explain why the queens seem to be in overdrive and the hives were in a frenzy today. Not rape I think, but what?

 

[JamezF]

Noticed quite a few bees on the geraniums and calendula for the first time today.

James

 

[Michael Palmer]

Lyme is gone. Sweet Clover going by. A bit of White Dutch Clover continues. Purple Loosestrife in full bloom. Used to be a decent flow until the government released a European beetle that almost wiped out the plant. Coming back nicely now after a dozen years. Goldenrod coming on soon...enough moisture in the ground! Bring on the hot and humid. Goldenrod is my bees' winter feed. Then, soon after, it's all finished and winter is apon us.

 

[user 20297]

I've been watching a patch of yellow flowers which are in a field about 500 metres away but in a remote location, not easily accessible on foot or by vehicle, bounded by a railway, deep watercourses and a peat bog. I sent my favourite drone across to investigate and was delighted to find that the yellow is corn marigold. There is also some Phacelia, and clover amongst other plants. Clearly, this is an intentional sowing which I suspect may be intended for a local beekeeper....but guess whose bees are most local?

 

[gregior]

After a very decent amount of rain over the last week everything is getting a second wind here, lots of new clover and bramble flowers showing and balsam looking very good too! Will this season ever end?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Summer flows stopped at the start of the week 20 colony’s moved to the moors so far , two apiary’s extracted from 36 buckets in storage so far and 4 apiary’s left to do ……..im crackered already nucs to hive up and mating nucs to sort out .
Having two days of to sort my own bees

 

[Newbeeneil]

I never see my bees on our buddleia but here on the Isle of Wight they are all over if!

 

[user 20297]

I trekked 400 metres across a bog, climbed over three high fences, crossed a railway line at a random location, went down, across and up a steep land drain, jumped across another deep ditch and finally reached the field containing "bee-flowers" . It's wonderful, containing borage, buckwheat, white mustard and many other useful plants; in addition to the corn marigold , phacelia and red clover I spotted from the drone. Obviously, the field was alive with honeybees. They have an easier task in getting there, as looking back, I can see our house, actually no more than 800 metres away in a bee-line. I assume that farmers get a grant to cover this. If I can pin down which farmer is responsible, they will be getting a few jars of honey as an encouragement to keep this up.

 

[JBallard2021]

I always wonder why bees choose some flowers over others even when they are in full bloom. I have mint that is covered with blossoms, and I watched the bees yesterday flit all over it, but move on? Will someone tell me the reason why?

 

[The Poot]

I always wonder why bees choose some flowers over others even when they are in full bloom. I have mint that is covered with blossoms, and I watched the bees yesterday flit all over it, but move on? Will someone tell me the reason why?

They were having beef for lunch, not lamb.