ESBA Apiarist

Once again some fine upstanding pillars of the community answered the call and devoted a large part of their Sunday to their own community service order. What did they do to deserve this?!

The enormity of the task ahead is revealed by the continuing lack of action with the timber cut to make hive stands, the 15 polynucs still in their natural colour, and the promise of 48 National polyhive boxes and almost as many feeders, floors and roofs - once I can find the man with the warehouse ...

A wonderful surprise when I stopped by at the apiary recently: Iain Lilly had made a bench for the shed. Thanks Iain! You can see it being put to good effect this afternoon.



Bill brought his electric saw and we cut up timber to make 9 hive stands, and Sean brought and fitted a timber skirt to tidy up the appearance of the shed.



The first ...

At the crack of dawn a specialist team of local carpenters headed off in their truck and pitched up at the association apiary, desperate to drink coffee, eat biscuits, and generally get on with the work of the day. Their efficiency was remarkable and by the time I blinked they were putting up the last part of the roof.



It took Neil and the lads maybe 45 mins to finish the job, and now the ESBA Apiary is ...

There is so much we will do on this patio. Make up frames, mark queens, fill Apideas, have cups of tea, throw parties, site comfy seats for passing dignitaries, sit classes of learners to hear wise words, plonk planters bursting with bee plants.



There is quite a knack to laying slabs perfectly flat, and unfortunately my experience of such things is a bit limited. Andy seemed to have a better idea of what he was doing ...

Many thanks Andy, Bill and Derek for your hard labour today clearing an area for a shed and heaving a ton and a half of gravel over to the excavation. We looked around for Tony Robinson and the Geofizz man but they never came. The archaeology unearthed (china, brick, rusty bits of farm equipment) didn't seem quite old enough for the Time Team.

The sun shone kindly as we laboured, but the ground was squelchy after another deluge last night. One or two bees popped out of D's hive behind ...