Thank you for all the work on this, Will.
I agree with your assessment.
I have some colonies which have low entrance traffic. It seems to vary a lot
over the day for colonies which have swarmed, whereas colonies which never
swarmed always seem to have loads of traffic. But the smaller ones tend to be
back to full strength the next year, so I don't worry about it unless it's so
low that I suspect queen failure.
Talking of which, I heard queen piping from one hive a couple of weeks ago,
which I thought was remarkably late in the year, but explains wh the drones
have not been kicked out yet (still queens around to mate with). They're
carrying in pollen now. Must have superseded successfully.
Paul
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On 25 August 2018 6:33 AM, Will H <whanrott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Please find attached two photos of the tree which the bees are living in. My
view is that we won't be extracting the bees this year. I will write to BBOWT
in the hope that the bees can be left in the tree, or that we can extract the
colony once the tree has been reduced in size by tree surgeons.
The opening for the colony is on a central limb approximately 4.5m above
ground. It should be reasonably accessible with a ladder. I have marked on
the photo where the nest entrance is and where I think the cavity is. I was
unable to establish whether the cavity is above the opening (in blue) or
below (in green). I expect it to be below the opening because it appears that
several limbs have grown together, causing and inclosure (marked by a
vertical seam) which has then rotted away. I see no reason why the limb
circled in blue would rot.
The main problem is that all the limbs above the nest cavity are very large.
The limb on the left of the photos is particularly large, extending at least
15m above ground. Opening the limb of the tree to extract the colony might
cause the the limb to weaken and collapse, particularly if the cavity is
within the green circled part of the tree.
In my view the crown needs to be reduced before it will be safe enough to
open the limb. The tree is only threatened because it is hazardous to people
who visit the Nature Reserve. It may be possible for the tree surgeon to
reduce the crown, make the tree safe and leave the bees in place. If the tree
must be completely removed then we might persuade them to remove it in stages
so that we could extract the colony after the crown height is reduced.
There is one more relevant observation. There wasn't much activity at the
hive entrance -- perhaps 1 bee every 2-5 seconds. The colony was very active
during spring, and they assumed that it had swarmed and had not rebuilt its
size. They didn't know when the swarming event had happened. I definitely saw
pollen going in so I assume that the colony is viable. I couldn't tell why it
hadn't rebuilt its size. It may not have had time; there may have been too
little forage; or the colony might be diseased or otherwise distressed.
I will let you know when I have more information from BBOWT.
Will
On 23/08/18 10:38, Will H wrote:
To my great surprise I've just heard back from the Education Officer at
BBOWT. The bees are in an unsafe tree in the Sutton Courtenay Education
Centre. The tree is scheduled to be felled during the winter.
I'm really impressed that the group tracked them down given the fragmented
information.
I'm going there this afternoon to see the site and to establish where in the
nest is in the tree. I'll take a camera and share the images later today.
Will
On 10/08/18 11:18, Will H wrote:
http://www.bbowt.org.uk/sutton-courtenay-environmental-education-centre
https://goo.gl/maps/6W6FCqRvDqB2
I still don't know whether anyone from this group wants to do an
extraction, nor whether we could successfully do it before winter. That
notwithstanding, I phoned BBOWT and I'm hoping for a call back from one of
their team.
Will
On 10/08/18 10:51, Andrew Bax (Redacted sender andrew.bax for DMARC) wrote:
That’s probably it! There is a nature reserve in Sutton Courtenay, soon to
be replaced by two vast warehouses. Andrew
From: oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Michael King
Sent: 10 August 2018 10:40
To: oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [oxnatbees] Re: Feral bees in Didcot
Progress - I think !
My wife, Kathryn, has done some research on the options, and based on what
we know, she is fairly convinced that the location for the feral bees is
Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre, run by the local Wildlife
Trust.
Hope that helps.
Have a great weekend,
Mick
On Fri, 10 Aug 2018, 09:24 Michael King, <kingmichael845@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have quizzed my wife, who also overheard the conversation, to see
whether she can remember anything else that might help identify the site
She is certain the woman worked in the 'education centre' there, and said
the tree was going to be felled because they get lots of school parties
visiting.
So, one more piece in the jigsaw - we are looking for a country park
with an education centre!
Apologies again that this is all so opaque.
Happy bee hunting
Mick
On Fri, 10 Aug 2018, 09:01 Gareth John, <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
How about Mobray Fields in Didcot:
https://earthtrust.org.uk/visit-us/mowbrey-fields/ ;?
Gareth
On 10 Aug 2018, at 06:05, Will H <whanrott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
this is rather a wild goose chase, but let us see whether the internet
can help. I found these possible country parks:
- Stonor is about 20 miles from Didcot towards Wycombe
https://www.stonor.com/discover/park-gardens/
- Basildon Park is about 12 miles from Didcot near Pangbourne
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/basildon-park/features/parkland-at-basildon-park
- Greys court is about 17 miles from Didcot near Henley
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greys-court/activities
- Shotover is also nearby
I couldn't find any country parks in Didcot or any nearer than 10 miles
from it. Perhaps someone can do better.
Will
On 09/08/18 22:05, Michael King wrote:
Regrettably I don't have any more details.
She was definitely associated with the park, rather than just an
interested member of the public.
I don't know the area, but I assume that there can't be many options
for country parks around Didcot? So, I thought it might perhaps be
worth a couple of phone calls to the likely candidates if anyone is
interested in trying to extract the bees - with or without a piece of
tree trunk!
Good luck,
Mick
On Thu, 9 Aug 2018, 19:35 Oxnatbees, <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well.. there are members of the group who still have no bees after
swarm season:
- Sam Acton (10 miles from Didcot)
- Liz Robinson (13 miles from Didcot)
- Sarah Pulvertaft (25 miles from Didcot)
- (Anyone else?)
Assuming someone wants them, we'd need to know more about the
situation. For example if they are 30 feet up, or behind a really
thick wall of wood, they may be too challenging to cut out. It's not
clear whom to contact, do you have other details of the woman /
country park?
Paul
On 9 August 2018 at 17:14, Michael King <kingmichael845@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi,
I was helping out on the BBKA stand at Countryfile Live at Blenheim
last weekend, and overheard a conversation that might be of interest
if anyone is in the Didcot area.
In summary, a woman from a country park in Didcot was asking for
advice about a colony of wild/feral bees that are under threat at the
site.
She said that the colony has been living in a hollow tree there for a
long time - I think over a decade. However, the tree is scheduled to
be cut down and she was keen to see what could be done to save the
bees.
I don't think she got much joy in response to her query, so my guess
is the situation is still unresolved.
Sorry the details are a bit sketchy, I was trying to show someone how
to make a skep, so only overheard fragments of the dialogue!
Hopefully it will mean something if you know the area? And I thought
I would pass it on, in case anyone was interested in salvaging what
sounds like a hardy and we'll adapted feral colony.
Best regards
Mick King
