Forage

The colour of honey

I recently took some honey from Hive A. Most came out as comb but there were also a couple of jars.

Yesterday I returned to Hive A. Some time ago I had put some broken comb pieces onto the crown board. In the usual way the bees had built a large slab of comb around it it and started to fill it. I cleaned up the crown board and then hung the crunched comb in mesh bag overnight.

Not Lime Time after all

The Limes are flowering in Headington. The Limes are flowering in Oxford. There are no bees on any of them.

I'm told that Limes only give nectar when the conditions are right. It has to have rained (which it hasn't recently) and it has to be humid (which it isn't ). These two presumably go together. The result is that Limes are only said to yield approximately every 7 years.

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Lime Time

I've been waiting for the Small Leaved Lime Tree, Tilia Cordata, to flower. The time is near.

Not to be confused with the citrus trees which bear Lime fruits, this attractive tree is a big producer of nectar and it's common around Oxford. There are several large mature trees on Parks Road and South Parks road. There are many more around the city and in Headington

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