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What the.... I've missed the borage boat! Over in 2 weeks!

If any one is in a doubt about gov policy affecting wildlife & insects, listen to Si Croson talking about how good SFI has been, impact neonics didn’t have on his bees & reduction of oil seed rape area is hugely damaging.

This crop got off to a brilliant start with warm soils and a nice rain to get it going. But without regular rains to sustain it, things look very bleak.

It's actually quite hard to stop them reproducing! This shake out clearly wanted a chance at life. Nestled in a floor (about 10mm depth)

Just back from the later borage. I'd say mid flower - about 1 week in from first flowers. So yep, probably mostly over in 2 weeks. There's a chance if we get some rain that encourage the smaller shoots to come through but that doesn't look particually likely at the moment.

Autumnal on the way to Banbury this morning. Very few flowers left & even the remaining Willowherb/Ragwort looks dry & crispy. It's over.

I'm thinking of calling time in a week or so and getting boxes off & syrup on. No point in waiting for last dribbles to come in while the varroa load sky rockets. Made that mistake in the past!

*WARNING BEEFARMER* It's becoming increasingly obvious this'll be a horrific WASP year. Get those boxes of anything queenless/struggling or it'll be gone!

Borage weight scale is going up about 3kg a day but some of that is fanned off by the bees over night (around 1kg I think) Still 2kg/4.4lbs a day is good on an average/good colony. It's an interesting tool to have... is it worth the money/investment... not sure.

Too little too late? Might give the borage a second flush, enough to brighten up the heather...dunno 🤷🏻‍♂️

Does BORAGE steal tomorrows happiness? Noticing last years borage bees have barely made a 50lb average this year. These colonies did at least 100lbs at the borage. Wierd. I know it clamps them down but...

Loads and loads of wazzers harrassing the borage bees. This is very normal and we've lost many in the past. Have to keep a close watch. Weak = shake out and even reasonable colonies keep them tight with reduced entrances.

theguardian.com/environment/20…

Calling time

First visit to the Heather since moving bee to Glentanar last Thursday. I wasn't overly optimistic but wow. Some boxes nearly full and none less than half full. It's bell but I'm sure there's Ling in with it. A lot out already, another few days and the hills will be pure purple

Willlowherb is just dying off - aborting flowering. I think the heather is going to be very very short, very strong (flow) & over in a flash <5days