Three flying days in a row now which seemed to herald the glorious anticipation of yet another season but then things turned. Three weeks of arctic winter has kept them all indoors..
All eight colonies have been flying well and vigorously foraging on the Winter Honeysuckle, the Hellebores and now the crocus. The latter have very deep nectaries so the bees have to stand on their heads and struggle to get their reward.
I have been hefting the hives since the new year just to ensure that their stores are lasting them and all seem to remain fairly heavy.
Unfortunately, the winter oxalic acid treatment was not as successful as I would have liked so I have had to give them another course of Apivar. Weekly counts continue and some hives are now down to two successive zeros whilst others are down to single figures.
The field of rape down the road, easily within flying distance, seemed to have resisted the ravages of the pigeons for a long time but eventually the vermin found it and are now tearing it to pieces.