Spring Time and Winter Losses

Quick entry as we're into spring. On the 20th March Google told us it was Vernal Equinox. That's the first day of Spring. Sort of. If you use the Astronomical Calendar 20th of March is the first day of Spring, but if you use the Meteorological Calendar it started on 1st March. The Astronomical Calendar is based upon the angle of the Earth relative to it's orbit of the sun whereas the Meteorological Calendar is based upon the weather -yep there's clues in the names I know. Today whichever calendar you prefer to use we're definitely in Spring.

Toby sat on a hive

Going into Winter I had 6 colonies, unfortunately one didn't make it through. Well actually they did make it through to early March but seem to have died off during March despite having plenty of food. It's been a strange month with the weather being a car crash mish mash of tshirt weather one day and freezing the next. Last week I'd listened to the hives with a stethoscope and noticed no noise from one hive. After waiting for a warm day I had a look inside and was disappointed to find no bees responding to the intrusion. I had a quick look through the frames and found that although there was still plenty of food stores in the hive the bees had perished clustered away from it. I think this had been my smallest colony going into winter and the cold snap in March seems to have thrown them. They'ed even started rearing brood at some point. This is the second colony I've lost to Winter in 5 years. For a beginner beekeeper that's pretty good but it's still quite annoying. It's still too cold to be inspecting colonies but after hefting the hives (lifting the side to check the weight) I decided to give two of them some fondant to gnaw on.

Other bees have been flying too. Yesterday I spotted a large Bumble Bee foraging the flowers. I don't know what type of Bumble Bee she was but given the timing and her size she had to be a Queen -it's too early for Workers and Drones.

Queen Bumble out foraging

Frog activity is usually a good sign things are warming up too. Last week I took a female frog off Toby the Cat and noticed she seemed rather plump, I figured she was probably heavy with eggs and this week the presence of frogspawn in the ponds at home and my out apiary was clear evidence the amorous amphibians had deemed it warm enough to do rude things in public. They don't always get it right though and they've spawned before freezing spells in the past, fingers crossed they got it right this time.

Frogspawn is appearing

Some March days my bees have been flying and I'd already spotted some bringing in pollen which suggests they were raising brood. They've also been seen gathering water from a couple of locations. Today there was a few heading to a neighbours waterlogged trough (a galvanised planter with no drainage hole) and apparently sucking up water from the mud. Probably far safer than using the currently frog infested ponds.

Gathering water from a trough of mud.

This makes me think that perhaps instead of making a regular pond or water feature maybe an artificial boggy area may be a better as a water source for them. Just a hole in the ground, lined with pond liner, backfilled with lose soil and waterlogged. It's an idea I'll possibly revisit later in the year. Speaking of mud..

Ground Beetle Larva
-some sort of Carabidae

I met a Ground Beetle Larva the other day. It's not really bee related but I liked the photo. These things are pretty useful for gardeners as they eat slugs so if you find one best to leave it alone to protect your plants, potatoes or whatever. Not all larvae are predators but you don't need a degree in entomology to figure out which ones are useful, those large jaws are a dead giveaway that this is a predator.