Beekeeper’s Notes: Bees Are Bringing In Nectar By The Box Load

Published on: 1 Jul, 2022
Updated on: 29 Jun, 2022

Hugh Coakley keeps bees in Worplesdon

The summer flow is on now and the bees are bringing in nectar by the box load. Two of our strong hives have foraged around 10lbs to 15lbs of honey each in just a week.

This is the queen from a swarm we picked up six weeks ago. She is nice and dark, a good layer and her progeny are quiet and good foragers. We haven’t made a very good job of marking her but she still stands out when we need to find her, which is the point.

Traditionally, June is seen as a barren month for bees in the UK. The June Gap, as it was known, was seen as a danger time for bees to potentially run out of food with a drop in nectar flow between the spring and the summer.

But with seasons coming forward, there was no sign of a nectar drought this month at all. Quite the contrary.

Golden honey on a frame just about to be spun. There are signs of it crystalising on the frame which would have made it very difficuly to extarct.

The spring honey this year came out of the comb a beautiful golden colour but within hours of extracting (only a couple of weeks ago in early June – it seems much longer), it had changed to a ghostly white and set to a creamy texture.

That same golden honey, now in a food bucket, set to a ghostly white with a beautiful flavour and texture. We think it is probably from oil seed rape.

We think it is from oil seed rape which we don’t usually get around here. Or rather, our bees don’t usually forage it if it is there.

Either way, it is absolutely beautiful. Spectacular flavour, slightly grainy and perfect to spread on toast with butter.

Ooh deep joy.