The day after the afternoon before

Well I'm happy to report that I still have bees, they seem quite content where they are, are doing everything they should and so far appear happy about me being there every now and then, pottering about and watering fairly near the hive entrance. I was concerned that they weren't getting enough of the syrup I have been giving them, I've heard and read that some newly hived swarms get through litres of the stuff, mine are doing a 100ml a day if that but there is always a little clump of bees there when I check. Slightly less concerned after a conversation with Bee Mentor Maureen yesterday and the fact that they are a small colony I decided to see where they were flying to. There are clumps of blackberry all over the plot, these are all in flower at the moment with one clump about 200 yards from the hive, yep you guessed it, it's awash with bees! Not just honey bees, this morning I counted 3 different types of bumble too. Obviously a bee favourite and with the boosted pollination it looks like we'll get another bumper crop this year. More blackberry wine methinks. Yummmmm.

On another note, I read the article in the Huddersfield Examiner last night "Did bee sting kill Dewsbury woman Eileen Pearson?" and although I'm by no means an expert I think it's a shocking. scare mongering piece of speculative nonsense. Perhaps it would have prudent for the Examiner to wait until the test results were in before publishing this "may have", "could have" speculative article which will have done nothing the reputation of the endangered bee species and has helped perpetuate the Hollywood myth that bees are killers. A number of my elderly neighbours have already referred to the article, scared that this is going to happen to them. Although I have tried to point out that the article is speculative and that the poor woman could have as easily had a nasty reaction to something she ate, they are not convinced. Bees are now enemy number 1! Maybe an article that gives readers the chance to identify the different makes and models of flying things accompanied by the proper way to deal with stings and bites would have served both the readership and the natural world better. My thoughts go out to the poor woman's family and friends but this article did not, in my opinion help anyone.

Right off my hobby horse and back to facts. The bee sting I ungratefully received yesterday (see previous post) luckily did not cause me to be ill in any way and as this post proves, I am very much in the land of the living. Yes it hurt, yes it swelled a little but because I followed the guidelines and immediately scraped the thing out with my fingernail the sting was only very mild and has even had a slight botox effect on my right eye, so I am certainly not complaining! I may have a bad reaction one day, both my beekeeping mentors have very serious reactions on occasions but I have done the sensible thing and read the guidelines and researched what to look out for so feel confident I am safe. Bring it on! 

As an afterthought, the sting was probably a Karmic one as I laughed out loud when a friend of mine recently got stung in the head by a cross bumble bee. Just goes to show ;-)

Location:Dockery,Huddersfield,United Kingdom