We have a swarm!

Dinah got a call about a swarm this evening. It was in a local beekeepers garden so he had caught it and put it in a box already. We took it up to the apiary and put it in the top bar hive. It was a big swarm which its good news. Lets  hope the bees like their new home.

I really enjoyed the AGM on Wednesday and what an ace film (The Vanishing Of The Bees), I recommend it to those who weren't able to make it...it's eye opening. We mentioned how bees are starting to swarm now (during breaks in the rain) so I thought I would share a picture of me and my friend on our way to catch one...

Here is a lovely poem by Carol Ann Duffy too....

The Hive

All day we leave and arrive at the hive,
concelebrants.The hive is love,
what we serve, preserve, avowed in Latin murmurs
as we come and go, skydive, freighted
with light, to where we thrive, us, in time's hum,
on history's breath,
                      industrious, identical...

there suck we,
alchemical, nectar-slurred, pollen-furred,
the world's mantra us, our blurry sound
along the thousand scented miles to the hive,
haven, where we unpack our foragers;
or heaven stare, drone eyed, for a queen's start;
or nurse or build in milky, waxy caves,
the hive, alive, us - how we behave.

Canalside Community Bees AGM

CCB will hold a launch AGM on Wednesday 19th May at Bath Place from 7.30 (please try to be punctual). We will start with a meeting to introduce the project and the steering group, and to hear your ideas about how the Bee club can develop. This will be followed by teas / coffees and then a screening of the documentary film "The Vanishing of the Bees" which looks at Colony Collapse Disorder and other problems facing bees worldwide, and the links to pesticide use. Hope to see you there!

Fun at the hives - 5th May

Hopefully not everyone is away for the Bank Holiday! Come along and join in with some activities at the apiary. We may be able to look at the bees, but there are other jobs to do like planting some bee friendly flower seeds (we can do this in the poly tunnels if its raining), and sorting out the bee shed (where we keep all the equipment). We will meet at the geodome at 1.30 or if you arrive later find us at the apiary or in the polytunnel.