Heather weather

[Calluna4u]

Well I got a surprise at Dinnet today...was up on a muchroom foray with one of my daughters and realised the heather is in far better condition than it was two weeks ago. This was true of several spots.

Yes ll was brown two weeks ago but all the plants that just stopped developing because of the drought earlier are now in flower. I would say it has 10 days to 2 weeks still in it there.....I suspect its just a Deeside thing but have Italian visitors tomorrow for 3 days and on Tuesday we are going to Glenfeshie.

Big thing was that hives that had very little last time I looked (which WAS in late July) now have some serious honey. but the 5 sites I checked will now have averages varying from about 23 to 38Kg...actually pretty decent. (Note to those who might think this not much....it includes EVERY colony in the group, even the young singles just up there to earn their winter keep.) There was some residual smell and light fanning from whatever they did on Saturday.

So....maybe NOT totally over yet. Even a couple of kilos more adds up to quite a sum.

[Feckless Drone]

Note to those who might think this not much....

I'd be delighted with 10 Kg per colony harvested heather honey never mind what you are getting C4U. I had a miserable morning yesterday in the Angus glens - taking supers off and getting the bees setup for a trip back home. My crop this year is going to be pretty poor and I think this is to do more with colony strength (and timing for bees of the right age) rather than the heather. I say this on the basis of a couple of colonies doing OK. Also, a predilection for getting sections not helping me. It was a real surprise to see the second flush of flowering you were describing - in places the heather, especially the bell, looks better than it did a couple of weeks ago.

BTW - the Porter's worked almost perfectly this year - helped by a couple of very cold nights.

[Calluna4u]

I'd be delighted with 10 Kg per colony harvested heather honey never mind what you are getting C4U. I had a miserable morning yesterday in the Angus glens - taking supers off and getting the bees setup for a trip back home. My crop this year is going to be pretty poor and I think this is to do more with colony strength (and timing for bees of the right age) rather than the heather. I say this on the basis of a couple of colonies doing OK. Also, a predilection for getting sections not helping me. It was a real surprise to see the second flush of flowering you were describing - in places the heather, especially the bell, looks better than it did a couple of weeks ago.

BTW - the Porter's worked almost perfectly this year - helped by a couple of very cold nights.

What date did you go up?

Have our best yields in Glenesk and Glengairn...poorest will be the later bees up the A9 north of Dalwhinnie or any bees placed in Angus after 1st August.

However...the picture is very mixed even in the August bees. I said we were going to Glenfeshie and those bees (6 sites, many are from our own queen unit) have somehow packed in (estimated) 18 to 20Kg average.

Bees placed near Dalwhinnie in the same week have practically zero...well not zero but a pretty paltry crop.

However there is still heather flower in all areas up there from late flowering clumps, so the weather over the next few days might give a bit more....the colonies are of better bee power than normal for the end of August (possibly due to inactivity not burning them out) so they have a chance. It was pretty cold on the western moors Tues/Wed so there was very little bee flight, but my guy working in Deeside west of Ballater reported good flight there, a lot of pollen, but no appreciable nectar.

Overall impression thus is that some areas are outstanding, others average, and a significant minority very poor. Therefore thinking that, all lumped together it will be somewhat above average heather but not bumper. Pretty content with that given all the problems we faced this year.

Will start boarding some of the earliest finishing areas (east Deeside I think) at the end of next week.

and...FWIW....and now rather out of date...we did side by side testing on various levels of crop from different types of supering at the heather back in the 80's. Sections results were only around 20% of the harvest of the best system (for weight of harvest) which was drawn comb deeps. A fairly predictable hierarchy of crop.....Drawn deeps best, then drawn shallows, foundation deeps, foundation shallows, thin super shallows (significant difference from using standard weight foundation), and lagging far behind were starter strips and sections.

[Feckless Drone]

[QUOTE=Calluna4u;39852]What date did you go up?

Colonies sent for the bell on 8th July (Lethnot), then for ling went up 2 weeks later to a different site (Prosen). I noted your survey previously - and I know its not efficient - but I love sections! Nevertheless, its a poor return so I will revise the strategy for next year, maybe try some deeps but my shoulder might not be capable for that.

Putting some bell into the Dundee Flower and Food Festival competition this year, but it is maybe a bit paler than the judges would like. The taste is fantastic - far and away the best and most costly honey I've ever produced.

And while I am here - anyone at the DFFF this weekend - please pop over to the ESBA stand and introduce yourself.

[Feckless Drone]

Busy getting bees down from the Angus glens this weekend, with a real nip in the air and some bell heather still in flower. I am always looking out for blaeberry bumble bees when up the hills since I've never seen one. At the weekend I saw a wonderful big dark bee, male gypsy cuckoo bumble bee right beside a hive. New to me, but I see it is considered common in the north of the UK. The search for the blaeberry continues.

Anyway, colonies are coming back still strong, no drones seen, with stores in the brood box, and now with apivar strips in place and a block of fondant overhead. The last sweaty day of beekeeping for 2018. A bit of uncapped heather honey in the supers put on to provide space a couple of weeks ago and I'll give them that in the spring. Next job is to clean up the hardware and deal with the frames and wax and plan for next season. Roll on 2019.

[Thymallus]

Yup just got all mine back from North Yorks Moors. Yield down this year, mainly because the flow finished very abruptly mid-August. Most unusual, most years it slows down and peters out early Sept. But hey, it's been an unusual year.
Finished extracting it, a few days of my life I won't get back. I love heather honey but hate extracting it.
That's it now for extraction. All kit clean and stored.
Overall a great year, particularly the June/July period when I struggled to keep up with the honey monsters.
Now the interesting question of how to sell all that honey and what bit of fancy kit to spend the proceedings on.

[greengumbo]

All my hives came down from the hills on saturday / sunday. Was relieved to see them intact.

Not a great crop. Will be stripping some brood boxes to get some honey, feeding them all ~12 litres invert and treating next few weeks. Best tip I ever got was from Murray to rapid feed without the clear plastic insert and float hay / straw on top of syrup instead. They blitz it down in no time