www.tanstaafl.co.uk

The closure of a local bridge to, well, almost anywhere really, meant that the shortest two alternative routes (at least for small vehicles) took be past almost all of the hives that I hadn’t yet visited so far this Spring, so it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.

Most of the colonies seem to be doing well, but sadly there was one disappointment. The colony that I tried to rescue from a cavity in a tree branch that had been cut down didn’t make it through the Winter. Not the most enormous surprise as it was very awkward trying to get them to leave the cavity, but it’s a shame I couldn’t have done better with them.

I went out to put a super on a hive this morning and to deliver a few (rather late) jars of rent. As I was suiting up two young girls, perhaps five and seven years old, ran to the gate of a nearby house and one excitedly asked “Are you a beekeeper?” before disappearing back indoors.

I sorted the super, dropped off the rent and on the way back past left them with the spare jar I’d brought with me. The chap who answered the door said that he knew a beekeeper who had lost all their colonies this Winter and was desperately upset by it.

Whilst I was at the site I had a bit more of a look around at what the water company have been doing around the pumping station. It’s much more tidy whilst at the same time removing any semblance of privacy for the garden of the adjoining house, but one of the manholes (there are many) has a steady stream of water running out of it. The landowners told me that workers came in when a major water main a couple of miles away was “punctured” during construction work a couple of weeks ago and they had to divert the water otherwise all of Taunton would have been cut off. They’re coming back “some time” to sort everything out, probably with earth-moving machinery, so I need to have a think fairly sharpish about how I’m going to keep the hives out of harm’s way.