As the Snowdrops Emerge

Every morning, when the weather permits, I take a turn of my garden inspecting how my plants are doing and hoping the scent of spring comes soon. I'm so tired of this cold, dreary, wet weather!

What a surprise today to find a peek of snowdrops growing under my Magnolia tree. It made my heart sing to see the shoots popping out of the ground. I'm hoping spring is close as I miss my bees and pray they have survived the winter.

Late last summer due to the spell of very hot weather, the bees were starving of forage and began to rob other beehives. They tend to target weaker colonies and it seems my hive was one of them. Over a period of a week an aggressive cloud of bees robbed my hive to the bone with a frenzy at the hive entrance and a dissonant buzzing. It was very depressing to witness and somehow I hoped my bees might survive this onslaught as there wasn't much I could do to help them. I am a treatment free beekeeper and only feed my bees honey if it's an absolute must, unlike the majority of beeks (beekeepers) in the UK. According to surveys there are about 20% treatment free beeks in the UK.

When the buzzing died down and the robbers dispersed I decided to take apart and clean up my hive and try to salvage some honey if there was any left. The solid floor was left exposed and after an hour I returned to find the queen huddled in a corner with four workers tending to her. I was gobsmacked. It is generally thought that as a colony is robbed they first kill the queen to gain easy access to the hive - this was not the case. My guess is she hid in the hive till the robbers left. On seeing her I went into a frenzy to put the hive back together in the hope she returned with her workers. Thankfully, she did and I was able to catch her with the help of a fellow beek and place her and her team in a small nuc hive with some extra bees and brood gifted to me by my beek friends. ( Beeks are a friendly lot and take time out to help each other. )

Yesterday I saw one bee saunter out of the entrance so my hopes are they are alive and the queen is well. I won't know till the weather warms and I can crack open the lid to see how they are doing. Fingers crossed, wish me luck!

Tanvir Mukhtar

Juniper Green Apiary, Buckinghamshire