The Blackthorn Winter is a spell of cold weather in early April which often coincides with the blossoming of the blackthorn in hedgerows....

Ivy is an important source of late autumn pollen and nectar for Honey bees and other pollinators. Ivy mainly flowers in September and...

Photograph taken at The ORC site, Heading, Oxfordshire by C A Malin. This is a furry solitary bee of medium size. Pollen is collected on...

Bee bread is a mixture of pollen and nectar/honey. It the main source of food for the workers and larvae. Pollen is stored in the cells...

The honeybees are out in this warm weather, collecting pollen and nectar. The brood boxes where the queens stays (hopefully and not in...

I hope you are all keeping safe and well.. Well, the bee's are out and about, plenty of pollen being brought in, this shows that the...

For honeybees to make wax they have to raise the temperature in the hive from 33 to 36°C (91 to 97°F). They would need to consume eight...

Woodpecker guards made for the extra colonies.

The Honeybees are out today collecting pollen and nectar from Box (Buxus sempervirens). There are various colours of pollen they are...

I have painted my nest box and it is now ready to be placed outside hoping to encourage a queen bumblebee to use it. I will update you in...

February 14th and what a lovely day. The birds were singing and the bees buzzing. The bees even found some pollen to bring in.

During these winter months you need to keep a check on the hives, not only for damage caused by high winds, falling branches and...

There are many winter jobs for a Beekeeper, but one of them is cleaning the wax you have collected through the year. There are many ways...

Once you have taken the varroa treatment off the hives, now is the time to feed your bees, with some varroa treatments you cannot feed...

Many parts of Britain have had very little rain and in this part of Oxfordshire we have not had any. There is very little flowering for...

If you are a beekeeper you need to be aware that the oil seed rape will be sprayed with insecticides when it is in full flower. Hopefully...

Well, the weather has change, so for the past two days I took advantage of the very warm sunshine. Queens are laying, 2 to 4 frames of...

If you can get out to your hives in the snow, check the entrance to the hive is clear of snow. If your hives are on solid floors,...

The first bumblebee queens will emerge from hibernation in spring, some as early as February or March. Only the fattest queens survive,...

During autumn/winter you should protect your hives against woodpeckers. As you can see from this picture a woodpecker has put a few holes...