This is such a nice tale! The tea party description, plus the neighbour drawn
in by you all, and then the gift from Liz. It quite cheers me to think there
are so many good people with good intentions in this country.
Jan
Jan Benson
On 25 May 2022, at 2:48 PM, Barbara Elizabeth Robinson <liz20swan@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Dear Jane
We attended your lovely tea/bee party on Saturday and therefore familiar with
events!
I have quite a few ancient national brood and super boxes plus a roof and
can donate a brand new floor from Thornes which just needs putting together.
The boxes and roof were rescued from last year's 5 Nov bonfire. Very old
Very
much smelling of honey/propolis but reasonably sound and sturdy. No bars or
frames tho - I use Warres.
If you think these will do I can bring them over.
Best wishes,
Liz Robinson
On Wed, May 25, 2022, 19:27 Jane denby
<dmarc-noreply-outsider@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Saturday at the Dee Bee tea we had a lovely swarm go into our neighbours
garden. After many attempts we very sensibly decided that the swarm was not
possible to reach. My neighbour Martin was away when we had a go, but I
showed him the swarm on the Sunday. He was very keen to put up some tower
scaffolding but we persuaded him that it really was not worth it and also
tricky to get at it. We both have been watching them in the hope that we
would see them fly off to an easier place. Last night I noticed a very tall
ladder leaning against the very slender tree with the swarm in it but
decided to ignore it. I really did not want Martin ( 75 years old) going up
it!
This morning the doorbell rang very early and to my absolute surprise and
joy was Martin plus the swarm! He had been going up and down the ladder
since dawn, cutting off a side branch one at a time and then letting them
settle. How he managed to carry down the branch from a very high ladder all
by himself…he had used a butterfly net as a bee veil. It was a wonderful
sight to see!
I did a bit more trimming and shook them into a skep, the bees were
delighted to have a dark cosy place, and I have never seen such a quick
gathering in. After advice from Paul I decided to put them in the queenless
TBH straightaway. I used a leaderboard as a divider and they have separate
entrances on different sides of the TBH. No mad frenzy or fighting and so
hopefully it works and they are not too exhausted.
Martin is a gentle soul and would love a hive to watch over. He has recently
lost his beloved cat William, who was his only companion. If anyone has an
old hive they don’t want, any shape, sort or condition we would love to take
it on as a project with him. He is extremely practical so could make do and
mend! His garden is a wild oasis and I think he has shown that he loves bees
and is even maybe a bee whisperer!
Cheers Jane
