Woodland Question

[John Taylor]

Having started BK last spring, I currently have a garden apiary with 2 hives and am planning to expand this to 5 or 6 this year. I am surrounded by mixed woodland and plenty of 6 metre wildlife margins and hedges around not too intensely farmed fields. Trees are I guess a good source of pollen and propolis but how about as a source of nectar?

 

[pargyle]

Sadly there are hardly any woodland trees that produce nectar of any sort that is going to be harvested by bees ... Pollen - yes. Nectar sources are principally fruit trees so unless there are apples, pears, cherries, etc. in the woodland (doubtful) it's not going to give you a honey crop. You might find established ivy in a native woodland and that will be useful for nectar as a late autumn forage going into winter to stock the hives.

The hedgerows and field margins if they are left to flower with wild flowers will be valuable though.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Lime, sycamore, holly, oak (occasionally produces red honey), robinia, maple, hawthorn...

This list by Urban Bees is useful; another here by The Apiarist; best book is Plants for Bees by Kirk & Howes (IBRA, 2012).

 

[John Taylor]

Thank you both for your helpful comments and reading list. The hedgerows are left fairly wild away from the lane sides and contain a lot of haw & blackthorn as well as damsons/damsines. I have a small young orchard of 20 or so trees of mainly heritage varieties, which my bees missed last year as the flowering was over by the time they arrived. I have Ivy in abundance Many thanks, let us hope that 2021 will be better for us all and our bees than last.

 

[Apple]

In Surrey we had an abundance of wild garlic... almost a foul as ivy

 

[Amari]

Horse and sweet chestnut. Honeydew.

 

[The Poot]

In Surrey we had an abundance of wild garlic... almost a foul as ivy

I have a large patch of that in my garden (and my last one too) but have never seen a bee on it.

 

[madasafish]

Lime trees give lots of nectar - ina good year and of the correct type of lime.

Like hundreds of pounds weight. of homey for one hive.

 

[pargyle]

Lime trees give lots of nectar - ina good year and of the correct type of lime.

Like hundreds of pounds weight. of homey for one hive.

Yep ... Lime honey is fantastic as well ... but ... they don't give out every year - when they do for the couple of weeks they are in bloom they are bee magnets and sitting under a lime tree when the bees are on it is like sitting in a power station ...

 

[Swarm]

There's a big Sycamore up the road that's like that, fantastic sound.

 

[pargyle]

There's a big Sycamore up the road that's like that, fantastic sound.

I have two big sycamores in gardens either side of mine ... they are more reliable than the Lime and produce nectar most years - but, they come into blossom almost at the same time as a large number of horse chestnuts trees we have within a few hundred yards and I suspect my bees go for those in preference. Either way - great bee trees.

 

[The Poot]

There's a big Sycamore up the road that's like that, fantastic sound.

Last year a big single willow tree in a nearby field buzzed like that, but I couldn’t see the bees. It’s an old tree with great hollows in it, so I assumed a wild nest was in it. A week later it was totally quiet, so it must have been giving something for the bees. It’s on my to do list to check it out again.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Last year a big single willow tree in a nearby field buzzed like that, but I couldn’t see the bees. It’s an old tree with great hollows in it, so I assumed a wild nest was in it. A week later it was totally quiet, so it must have been giving something for the bees. It’s on my to do list to check it out again.

willow is a fantastic source of early pollen - and nectar

 

[The Poot]

willow is a fantastic source of early pollen - and nectar

What was odd though Jenks, it was the only willow among several, along a stretch of river bank and a farmers field that had “the buzz”.
I knew ”pussy willow” is special for bees early on, but this tree wasn’t that type and it was well after the pussy willow had “gone over”.
I’ll have to research other willow types.

(10 degrees C today and it was like the relief of Mafeking in the apiary. My car is a mess, but great to see all colonies flying.)

 

[beeker]

Getting excited now. No bees yet. But am surrounded by trees, both chestnuts, some limes, lots of sycamores, and within a stone's throw of the Severn, lined with pussy and goat willows. Plus all the bramble and hedges, and a bit of heather within flying distance too.

 

[Amari]

Lime trees give lots of nectar - ina good year and of the correct type of lime.

Like hundreds of pounds weight. of homey for one hive.

Oh, do let on, what type? I contributed to correspondence in Beecraft decades ago on this and no-one could give a definitive answer. Nor to the question of which limes seem to cause bumblebees to die - as evidenced by their corpses beneath the trees.
I have an avenue of 12 limes adjacent to my apiary. I'm never really sure whether they yield much honey tho' there's a loud buzz on a warm day. The trees are c. 30 yers old and I've been told they're probably a cultivar, as are most recent municipal plantings. There is an avenue of much older trees 1 km distant on private property but I've not checked to see if they're indigenous species.

 

[madasafish]

Oh, do let on, what type? I contributed to correspondence in Beecraft decades ago on this and no-one could give a definitive answer. Nor to the question of which limes seem to cause bumblebees to die - as evidenced by their corpses beneath the trees.
I have an avenue of 12 limes adjacent to my apiary. I'm never really sure whether they yield much honey tho' there's a loud buzz on a warm day. The trees are c. 30 yers old and I've been told they're probably a cultivar, as are most recent municipal plantings. There is an avenue of much older trees 1 km distant on private property but I've not checked to see if they're indigenous species.

No idea!

 

[Swarm]

Well I've seen bees on large and small leaved Limes. There's a row of thirteen not far from my house and in all the years I had bees at home, only had one decent crop.

 

[BigAshW]

Well I've seen bees on large and small leaved Limes. There's a row of thirteen not far from my house and in all the years I had bees at home, only had one decent crop.

I've actually planted a load of small leaf lime seeds in a pot in my garden with the intention of growing some lime trees.

I'm hoping the recent frost will be enough to kick them into germination.

 

[holmbee]

I have an avenue of fifty small leaved limes. In a good year the noise from the bees first thing is amazing. The supers are filled fast! However on a poor year, like last year, very little forage. Weather conditions are the driver. Warm settled conditions are best. Lat year was very windy at the start of July followed by heavy rain. Delicious honey when you get it!