Well, this month certainly came up trumps with the warmer weather we had hoped for in the summer! We have seen some really lovely, warm sunny days up here in Lincolnshire this September, which we were thankful for, not only because it gave the bees a chance to get out of the hives, but also beekeeping in nice weather is just…nicer.

One of our main jobs this last few weeks has been to consolidate a lot of our equipment. As we pack bees down for the winter (yes, already!), we end up with parts of feeders and other bits of equipment such as queen excluders that need tidying up. It is one of those jobs that is slightly tedious but does clear things out of the apiary and we are always happy once it has been done.

Another small job we have been carrying out during each trip to the apiaries is to check the Asian Hornet traps. Thankfully no hornets so far but with the nest found this month just up the road in Hull, we realise that the problem may not be restricted to the south of the country. With that in mind, we think it is important to keep an eye on the traps and report anything if we find it.

Even with the sunnier weather, there has been a bit of a gap where the bees have not been able to get out much to forage so we have fed the bees this month. We used syrup this time and had to be extra careful not to spill any because wasps and bees get whipped up into a frenzy at any sign of a drop of honey at this time of year.

Going forward, we will be looking at putting mouse traps on and making sure every colony has enough food going into winter.