Swarms

A cloudy and warm June day, just right for bees to swarm.

As usual the bees selected the highest and most challenging to reach tree branch in the garden for their swarm. There was lots of discussion and the fetching of props in preparation to retrieve the swarm, Andy and Mum put bee suits on (I stayed a good distance away and gave the pig shaped hedge a much needed haircut, a third bee suit was prepared but thankfully never needed). In the end the 'getting-the-swarm-out-of-the-tree' procedure involved Andy balancing precariously on the tin roof of the compost bin, while mum pulled the branch down using an improvised high level pruner, Andy managed to balance while removing the lid from a wooden box and used the lid to knock the bees off the branch into the box. Despite what we'd read on the internet and in the bee book, the swarm did not easily drop into the box, they took a bit of persuading and for a while there were quite irate bees flying everywhere. Mum and Andy got the majority of the bees in the box and transfered them to a pre-prepared hive, hoping that the stragglers would find their way to the hive in time.

We followed that with going to the village festival in the afternoon. Hog roast, ice cream, homemade cakes and welly wanging.

Just a normal Saturday in Yorkshire really.