The Bees Knees

Visited the only beekeeper on Harris this morning. He keeps nine colonies of black bees - the original indigenous British bee. We opened one of the hives on what was a comparatively warm and still morning on the island's East Coast, and watched a cluster of bees make their first flight of the year after being cooped up all winter and feeding on bags of sugar. My friend got his first sting - which he swore would help with his arthritis. He has inserted a magnifier into his face net to enable him to see the queen's eggs more easy in the comb cells.

Later I walked half of the Coffin Road, so-called because the soil on the east side is too thin for burials, so the folk who lived there used to carry their dead across the island for interment in the west coast machair. It took me nearly three hours, and I encountered high winds, rain, hail and sleet, as well as sub-zero temperatures.