I really enjoy standing near our hives and watching what is going on at the hive entrances. It is a good way to get an idea about the fortunes of a colony. I have noticed lots of wasps around over the last couple of weeks and I was pleased to see that the bees were quick to dispatch a couple that were trying their luck to try and get into a hive. I’m relieved that we made the decision to combine some colonies earlier in the season, which means that the colonies that we have now are large and can easily defend themselves.

I also noticed that many of the bees were arriving with lots of bright orange pollen – they carry it in pollen baskets on their back legs – I believe that they are collecting it from Asters. I must replace the plants that died in our garden as it is obviously a favourite at the moment.

There are plenty of sedum plants in our neighbourhood – another late summer bee favourite. You can see in the picture below that the bees are willing them to flower more quickly!

Everyone loves a bargain don’t they? I picked up some dahlia tubers earlier this year at our local 99p shop – I think that there were 5 or 6 in a bag. I’m so pleased that they have all thrived and turned out to be single dahlias in a variety of colours. The single type are real favorites of pollinators (they can’t get to the pollen or nectar in doubles) and they are being constantly visited by honey and bumble bees.

This Callistemon shrub that we have in our garden has been flowering for over a month now and everyday it is crowded with bees. It is fun to watch them come out of the hive, and drop straight down from our roof on to the flowers. The children call it The Bottle Brush Tree…

The lavender in our neighbourhood has been really good this year, and there is plenty of it. We stopped to look at the bees on this bush today and spotted 5 different types of bee.

There has been sweet chestnut flowering too, which gives a very dark honey – it’ll be interesting to see if our bees found any to forage on.

Yesterday while I was inspecting our hives in Hendon, I noticed that some of the bees where coming back to the hive with a splash of white on their backs – a sign that they are foraging on Himalayan Balsam.

Suddenly the hives are humming – bees are piling in and out throughout the daylight hours and as the sun goes down there is a terrific fanning noise. The bees fan the honey with their wings to reduce the water content – this is their busiest time of year!

The warm weather is perfect for gathering nectar, so it is important for us to keep a close eye on the hives to make sure the bees have enough room to store it and continue to raise brood.

The lime trees locally are just starting to open, and we’ve seen bees very busy on lavender and clover. We haven’t mown our lawn this week so the bees can make the most of it.

Apparently this week is pollinator week! We are supposed to be celebrating our little friends, so I thought I’d take a little tour around our garden and see what they have been up to…

Strawberry season is well under way – we’ve been enjoying some most days recently. Last year we made some wire cages to go around the plants as they were raided by squirrels – they seen to be doing the trick so far…

Broad beans

Snap peas

Gooseberries

White currents

Apples

Blueberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Grapes

Without pollinators none of these delicious fruits and vegetables would have set and our diets would be much the poorer as a result. So, thank you little creatures – we’ll do our best to take care of you in return for your hard work.