Heather starting to flower.

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Ling opening nicely, hopefully the rain will make it produce some nectar.
 
The heather by me is now in full bloom and the bees are working it on the lower ground. It's a different story on the high ground where there is little in full bloom as yet but give it another few days and it should be good
 
very good flow on now and even my bees two miles away from the heather are bringing it in, happy days.
 
A few picks of the heather around here
 

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I am going back up the mountain tomorrow and hoping I won't need to give more feed.
 
I am just in from moving another three to the mountains this morning, lovely morning for it and hopefully it pays off.
 
Went up the heather mountain last night after work and the flow has just started so they didn't need feeding but the weather's going downhill as from tomorrow which is typical of this summer.
 
Ling still not in flower in most of my main locations. No more advanced than it was 2 weeks ago, in fact it has looked to be 2 weeks off flowering since middle of July. Bell pretty much past now, but still yielding in a handful of places. In those places it should have been more or less finished 3 weeks ago and the ling should have been in flower at least a fortnight by now. Still not anywhere near a major flourish. Maybe it just aint going to happen, as in some places the flowers are going brown even before opening. Grim.

Visited 6 places today and got soaked to the skin for my efforts. Said to have been nigh on 50mm of rain during today in Aberdeenshire. Of course that would be my key heather area. Most places still have nothing, and the earliest sites have now been on the moors for over 5 weeks and not anything more than a 'stay alive' amount having come in.
 
drove over the mountain to Swansea this evening and looked back across the valley towards home - Creigiau and the Drysgol now a riot of purple - not half as intense as it was last year though
 
drove over the mountain to Swansea this evening and looked back across the valley towards home - Creigiau and the Drysgol now a riot of purple - not half as intense as it was last year though

If you look on Google maps you can see they have taken huge strips to repopulate other areas.they were up there in the week spraying the ferns.seems they are trying to look after it which is a good thing
 
Any more news? Im unsure as to whether to bring supers or feed with me!

ITLD, my fingers are crossed. The warm weather looks like you could be in for a late flow. Hope so anyway!
 
Any more news? Im unsure as to whether to bring supers or feed with me!

ITLD, my fingers are crossed. The warm weather looks like you could be in for a late flow. Hope so anyway!

Things have sprung to life in the last few days. Bees that had nothing on Saturday were needing boxes added (well on with the top box) for safety sake. The heather has suddenly opened, and nectar flowing in most places.

Sadly it is rather too late for a significant number of apiaries. 5 and 6 weeks sitting in weather when they could get nothing has taken its toll and there are now insufficient bees in the hives to get much of a crop. The majority of places are OK, but as the flow is so recent I have not had time to get round them all yet to see if all our areas are now yielding.

Each of the last three days we have used a whole truck of supers.
 
Went up to the moors 2 day the hives I have up there are all looking good supers are drawn out with over 50% stored. one 14 x12 full starting to cap. looks like there could be a good crop
 
whats the heather like now with the rest of you all, haven't had a chance with the weather to get up this week to check on them, but the mountains are very purple indeed.

Darren
 
Anyone at Blaenafon? Noticed Ling in full bloom but still plenty of Willowherb around. Weather has been foul ( and it's bad up there even when it's good :D ) so no idea what the return will be.
 
Just got back from heather and very little going in,a few part filled frames.weather's been awful but that's the way it goes.weather's not looking very good for next week either.never mind there's always next year
 
Went to look on Wednesday at my first ever colony on the moor.

2 supers nearly full and being capped so I added a third. I hope I wasn't over optimistic.


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