Loft Conversion

A quick trip to the hives to install "mouse guards". Mice have a habit of preferring a nice snug hive to a cold winter hedgerow, especially with abundant wax and honey on offer, and can sneak in when sleepy winter bees let their guard down. We install a portcullis that lets bees squeeze through but not mice

I was anticipating that would be my blip, but we also discovered this: the colony expanding into what, in human-house terms, is the loft between the ceiling and the roof. I've seen this before - it is called rather charmingly "wild comb" - and it often does involve more imaginative shapes than the serried, parallel framework that we impose on them in the hive proper

It's a consequence of my rather sloppy management, combined with the exceptionally long, warm autumn we are having - with lots of ivy nectar and pollen on offer and lots of warm dry weather to harvest it. The warmth and plenty means queens are still laying lots of eggs, which means lots of bees and lots of harvesters - a virtuous cycle (observe and learn, Mr Kwarteng). This colony is doing just what you might do in response to 'the unexpected third child', with or without my planning consent

Aside from the aesthetics of this expansion, we also discovered this comb is full of honey - inevitably from ivy nectar. This source is notorious as a divider of opinions about its palatability - this and its out-of-season production mean it is rarely harvested, and I have never tried it before. I found it intriguing but ultimately unpleasant, with a bitter, metallic note at the back of the throat. Mrs M was much less equivocal and looked for something to take the taste away!