3 Swarms Flooding Flowers and Rain damage

The Orchard

I was down the orchard this afternoon, a little worried after the terrible weather we have been having, and will have for a couple more weeks to come. Some of the newspaper reports have claimed we will have 3 months worth of rain in 3 days, a couple more weeks of bad weather yet to come. The soil at the orchard is very soggy, I can see lots of slugs and snails around. The ring of willow trees is doing well. They were planted in the most damp area of the orchard, in part to absorb water.

As I have left lots of the grasses grow this year I have an array of flowers and grasses growing, it actually looks very pretty, I have seen various insects some of which i can only identifiy as flies and beetles and wasps, they are doing well and fulrishng.

 We also found 3 swarms in various trees. Most to me seem primary swarms. I plan to collect the swarms and pass them on to bee keepers that want more hives or to new beekeepers. My wife found the first next to an apple tree. Its a was the smallest of the three. A couple of thousand bees. I have no idea how long any of these swarms have been around or when they swarmed. I know that the hive I moved to the orchard a couple of weeks ago had queen cells. The bees could have swarmed upto 2 weeks ago. I was away last week in the Isle of Wight and didn't carry out the usual checks.

Swarm two

The week prior my son got stung and I didn't check the bees as well as I should have, the weather wasn't ideal for checking bees. The location of the second swarm is practically above where my son got stung, so they may have swarmed about then.  The second swarm was a couple of meters off the ground in a large tree within the orchard. The swarm as you can see has lots of bees and I would presume its the biggest of the three swarms. It will be very difficult to collect. I would need a ladder that could reach that high and then be able to collect them. In reality I am going to monitor this swarm and I hope that it will move along and then I can collect it. I may lose this one if I can't capture it. I hope it doesn't fly off and bother any of the neighbours. The orchard is large enough to let swarms occur naturally and I have time to collect the bees. If a member of the public is walking through  its shouldn't affect them. My wife and I did just that and we were able to get these pictures.

Swarm three

The final  swarm as in a plum tree again they didn't seem to mind us walking through the orchard and very close to where they were. The picture below shows where the willow trees are planted and that area has so much water that it looks like we have a small pond. That's also how if feels at the moment.

Water logged part of the orchard, where willow trees have been  planted

Sharon's Orchard

Crate used at Sharon Orchard

I was in the Isle of wight last weekend for a long weekend. A quick goggle and I found several orchards on the Isle of wight and would have liked to have visited all of them. However because of the poor weather and visiting the isle with my family I didn't get to visit as many as I would have liked.

Sharon from Sharon's Orchard

I did visit Sharon's Orchard
Sharon's Orchard which makes its own apple juice and cider and supplies the local co-operative and a couple of other retailers as well has having a lovely farm shop. They grow different varieties of apples and they also produce different varieties of apple juice so that they are not blended. I meet both Sharon and Joe who own the farm and produce both the juice and cider. My wife really liked the spiced cider and she's bought back a couple of bottles.

Joe from Sharon's Orchard

Sharon's Orchard started in the same way mind did and both myself and Joe have very similar backgrounds, and started our orchards as a hobby. Joe has gone and expanded and has more acreage now that I have. He has also planted a lots more trees than I have, however I look at his operation with admiration.

We had a tasting session and Joe also went through some of the equipment that he uses to produce the apple juice and cider. I really enjoyed the visit and would highly recommend it. Next to Sharon's orchard is a vineyard also worth a visit and also offers tasting, which we all enjoyed.

A selection of Cider and Juices from Sharon's Orchard

A little bad news

Orchard with paths around trees, lots of ground floor flowers

last week I mention that my son had never been stung by a bee, well that changed on Monday. We were in the orchard and I had already checked the bees and he was playing with his sister. He went off with an apple to feed the horses in the field next to us. He was stung in the head, I had removed the sting and given him an antihistamine within minutes he had no swelling, though he was in pain for a while. He cried for ages and might not be down the orchard or near the bees for  a while. He's only three and I hope in a week or so he will have forgotten the whole experience. I may even let him use a child bee suit we have to come and check the bees with me so that his confidence around bees is restored.

Orchard with paths

I walked around the orchard  and have seen a couple of new rabbit holes in the tall grasses and some rabbit damaged to some of the trees. I have also put up new stakes around some of the trees, as they have grown and it seems obvious that they need the extra support. Most of these trees seem to be plum trees I have reduced the number of fruit on these trees so that they aren't weighed down, especially at the top of the trees.

The bees themselves have produced at lease 1 supper of honey each. Some are now working on the second supper. I may extract sooner than later, but lets wait and see.

The grass is growing pretty quickly and may need a cut around the paths again soon.

Bird house on the floor

Now the really bad news.

A couple of weeks ago I informed you that I had moved a Bumble bee  family that had decided to set up home in a bird box at a friends house to the orchard. Well some vandal has gone and knocked it down, Its obvious that it has fallen down.  I hope whoever it was got stung. The bees are fine and are still coming in and out of the hive. However I can't do much for them at present, as moving them could only be done at night and I only need to move them a couple of feet so that they are back in the tree.

Honey Bee leaving the Bumble bees home

The bees may not realised that the Hive has moved and some may not return to the bird house. Also I have noted other bee's including honey bees have tried to get into bumble bee hive. I presume in search of food. See the pictures.

Bumble Bee coming out of the bird house