Needs Must

As a follow-up to yesterday's gale-force beekeeping, I did a little wet-weather beekeeping this morning. The bees and I agreed that this is just as lacking in fun, not something to argue about and needed to be out of the way as soon as possible. Today I remembered to zip up my bee suit; today I did not get a sleepy bee crawling round inside it; today I did not get stung on the back of the neck. You live and learn

I'm sure they are finding some nectar, when they can get out, but doubling the size of the hive, and asking them to fill the new half with wax, requires a lot of carbohydrate energy. To encourage them to get on with it in any conditions, I've left them some sugar feed, at least until the end of next week, which will be the next time we have the opportunity to meet. All you can do is ask

Tulips are sometimes a bit over-formal for my taste; I rather like the dishevelled and bedraggeled look of this one. You see: it really, really does keep raining. This is the end of the grey, wet afternoon, half hidden behind a shrub and over-shadowed by honeysuckle. It still magaged to catch the eye with intense colour, and I'm glad some of that came out in the photograph. By the time I see it again, I suspect this flower will be gone. Bees and flowers will take care of one another; forget-me-not