Somewhere the sun is shining,
So, honey, don't you cry,
We'll find a silver lining,
The clouds will soon roll by.
So sang Elsie Carlisle, vocalist for the rather excellent Ambrose and his Orchestra in 1935.
And now, seventy seven years later, the clouds are indeed about to roll by.
And the place where the sun is about to shine is right above the BeesofSpike Apiary.
And the place where the sun is about to shine is right above the BeesofSpike Apiary.
Yes indeed, the English summer is, eventually, almost here.
This is due to the Jet Stream finally shuffling back up into its customary, more northerly, position after having lingered too far south for far too long.
This is due to the Jet Stream finally shuffling back up into its customary, more northerly, position after having lingered too far south for far too long.
And happily, it's taking its appalling weather with it.
It has rained every day at the BeesofSpike Apiary since the bees arrived.
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| No more of this for a while |
It has rained every day at the BeesofSpike Apiary since the bees arrived.
The Apiary's newly laid grass has more or less disappeared, and the yet-to-be-named Hive Number One stands glumly in a depressing sea of mud.
But all is about to change.
But all is about to change.
Today, Friday 20 July, apart from being Mrs LandofSpike's birthday (Many happy returns, of course) marks the end of the interminable Jet Stream-induced rainy season.
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| And about time too |
Tomorrow, it will be sunny all day.
And the forecast is set fair for as far into the future as LandofSpike's weather-predicting seaweeds can tell.
The BeesofSpike will like this.
It's at last a chance to get a concerted spell of foraging under their belts before they have to hunker down for their first winter at the Apiary.
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| A BeesofSpike forager finally out and about, collecting pollen from the privet hedge two gardens down |
I think they've been over here - lots of honey bees in my lavender today, looking very busy. I asked them if they were from Land of Spike but not sure of the answer....
ReplyDeletehow can I tell?
Rachel
It's very likely we're your nearest colony, so it's totally probable that they've made it to your garden.
DeleteOnce one bee finds your lavender it relates the location to all its mates and they all turn up.
Lavender pollen is bright yellow, so I'll keep an eye out for that back at the hive.
They are traditionally stripy like the one in the above photo.
Well certainly they look just like that and are all over the lavender and the hardy geraniums. Don't think we used to have lots of honey bees before, only bumbles, so they must hail from Land of Spike Apiary central. So all my bee-friendly plants should be useful! They don't seem bothered with the buddleja, maybe that's just for butterflies.
ReplyDeleteR
Yes, up until three weeks ago we seemed to have a lot of bumbles but no honey bees.
DeleteThe increase in honey bees could well be due to our new local hive.
I automatically thought buddleja would be a good honey bee pollen source but perhaps it is mainly for butterflies.
I'll try and find out.