The double-whammy

Posted by Beekeeper on Nov 7, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Hive problems | 8 comments

This is the photo that ruined my weekend – the sort of sight that strikes fear into any beekeepers heart.

Not only are the bees being picked off as they leave or return to the hive by the huge Asian hornets and torn limb from limb, but this one also has a varroa mite – you can see the mite falling off the bee (the brown blob between the bee’s legs) as the hornet gets to work.

The bees fight back

Posted by Beekeeper on Nov 1, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Bee behaviour, Hive problems, Hornets | 1 comment

Asian hornets are still preying on our bees, settling on the landing board and waiting for one to leave or picking off the guard bees who come out to defend the hive – the hornets tap along the landing board to encourage the bees to stick their heads out of the hive, no doubt frustrated that the hornet guards are keeping them out. Many of the bees are too slow to escape as the cooler weather has settled in and as it’s late in the season, the Asian hornets are the new queens getting ready to overwinter – huge beasts, several times the size of the bees.

A week in September….

Posted by Jon on Sep 21, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Beekeeping, Moths & Butterflies, Wild bees, Wildlife | 0 comments

Oops – a whole week has flown by and no update, so I thought I’d show you what’s going on in our garden as September marches to a close.
The bees are still out gathering pollen and the hives have been very busy with the current hot weather, although the days are noticeably short with all the bees tucked up by 7pm when the temperature starts to drop.

Predators in the garden

Posted by Jon on Aug 30, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Hornets, Wildlife | 6 comments

I spent some time watching our Asian hornets this weekend – despite the fact that they are preying on our bees, they are fascinating creatures. Watching them as they moved around the garden and the beehives was really interesting, and I began to think that live bees may not always be their number one choice of food nor are they quite as fearsome on their own.

Garden sightings

Posted by Jon on Aug 18, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Beekeeping, Wild bees | 1 comment

It feels as though autumn has arrived all of a sudden – wet grass and cool winds in the mornings with grey skies. This has definitely slowed down the beehive activity (although they are enjoying the huge plum crop this year) so my thoughts are turing to honey, but I’m hoping the sun may come back for a while and give them a final burst of activity first.

Whilst I ponder, here are a few of the sights in our garden over the past few days….

Asian Hornet on the prowl…

Posted by Jon on Aug 11, 2010 in Asian Hornets, Hornets | 0 comments

Following on from my nest blog yesterday, I thought I’d share these photos that we took recently of an Asian Hornet scavenging a spider’s dinner.