July saw wildflowers fulfil all the promise they were showing at the end of June, writes Ethel Irvine from Fermanagh Beekeepers’ Association in her report for July.

She also notes below that the Meadowsweet, in particular, was spectacular in our fields and hedgerows for the whole month.

The origins of the name ‘Meadowsweet’ are two-fold, depending on the source consulted.

Meadowsweet thrives in meadows and has a very sweet aroma, but it was also used in Medieval times (amongst other things) to sweeten mead.

Indeed, one of our members makes a delicious mead which is flavoured with a few well-sterilised blooms.

Bees have had the opportunity to collect nectar from clover as temperatures have risen and there has been plenty of moisture in the air and soil to replenish any water evaporated from the blooms during the warm days.

Any beekeeper who has lime trees within foraging range of his apiary will harvest a honey which has a distinctive flavour.

To stand, on a sunny day, under a lime tree in full bloom is a never to be forgotten experience as bees love it, and the sound of thousands of bees working the blossoms is amazing.

It is the variety of nectars from our wide range of Irish wild-flowering plants in July which makes any local honey so desirable and prized.

The flavour and aroma of honey from a particular apiary in Fermanagh will not be the same every month or every season, because different flowers will be in bloom.

The dandelion honey of spring is different from the multi-floral honey of July.

The availability of different nectars will vary with weather as will the abundance of flowers, so we have different proportions of nectars, adding to the complexity of taste.

There are so many July wildflowers suited to the proboscis of Apis mellifera mellifera in our Fermanagh fields that our garden plants such as alliums, evening primrose, agapanthus (which requires an insect with a long proboscis) and antirrhinums (a bloom which requires strength if the insect is to reach the nectar) are, at the moment, the realm of bumbles, solitary bees and hover flies of all shapes and sizes.

Buddleias are in full bloom at the moment, and in other years would have been attracting all types of butterfly, but here there are very few so far.

Does this mean that those butterflies such as Painted Lady and Red Admiral which migrate here in early spring, did not do so, or did our unseasonal weather earlier hinder reproduction on arrival?

I hope that I have been expecting them too early!

While on the topic of insects, one which can affect our honeybee colonies in late summer is the wasp.

Wasps are carnivorous and are a boon to us as they will keep aphid numbers low as they feed them, together with nectar, to their developing larvae in their nests.

The larvae will reward them with a sweet substance, produced by special glands when they digest the insect parts and nectar.

However, at some stage in August, the queen wasps stop laying eggs which become worker wasps, and will produce eggs which become either virgin queen wasps or male wasps (which will mate with virgins).

The foragers return to the nests but there will be fewer and fewer larvae to supply them with sugary liquid, and they begin to look elsewhere for substitutes.

This is when they become such a nuisance to humans, and especially honey bees.

What better place to find an abundance of sweetness? They will attack the bees going into the hive, tear them to pieces, find the honey sac, and eat the protein stored in the body of the honey bee.

Once a few wasps are spotted in the apiary, it is time to tempt them to something easily attainable, i.e., the sweetness on offer in wasp traps.

Don’t place them in the apiary (thus attracting more in) but in its vicinity, having baited the water in them with a dollop of jam and perhaps a slug of beer.

If wasps are still around the hives, reduce the entrance to a small space (using foam sponge) such that the bees can defend more easily.

Swarming in Fermanagh is usually over by mid-July. A swarm will not leave a colony which is not viable, by which we mean that it has a sealed queen cell which is capable of hatching and producing a virgin queen.

That virgin has to have a very good chance of successfully mating, requiring the presence of numbers of drones, and starting to lay large numbers of fertilised eggs before colder weather curtails the hive activity.

The end of the swarming season means that the focus of the beekeeper shifts.

The need for weekly or 10-day inspections is over, and preparation of colonies for winter takes precedence.

Checking for disease; removal of the honey harvest; feeding for winter; asking the questions, “Do I need to treat for Varroa?”, “Is the colony big enough to survive winter?”, “Is the queen capable of producing enough brood to give the colony a flying start in spring?”, “Are my hives weather-proof?” and “How can I remove stress factors?” all form a part for bees wintering successfully.

Bees are extra-protective of their stores as they know winter is coming and we often accuse them of being ‘cross’, when all they are doing is protecting what is theirs!

This makes checking for disease perhaps the most hazardous of the procedures above, as every bee has to be removed from every brood frame, so that all open and sealed brood can be examined for anything that looks different.

This has been very clearly explained in the UBKA webinar where Tom Williamson, Chief Bee Inspector, DAERA, has described exactly what to do, how to package samples of comb, and where to send it for analysis.

When the supers are being replaced on the hive, any unripe honey can be placed in one super, leaving all the sealed and ripe honey in the remainder, ready for removal.

There is little point of leaving supers on hives after mid-August, unless hives are being moved to the heather.

The rate of lay of even the best queens begins to taper at this time of year, leaving room in the brood nest for stores, so the supers will be ignored by the bees.

Removing supers of ripe honey involves moving the bees out of them and, for myself with a home apiary only, the easiest way is the use of the rhomboid type of bee escape.

Put it in between the supers to be removed and the remainder of the hive in the evening, (or when you have completed your disease inspection), go back early the next morning before the bees are on the move, and remove and store the supers with a need for minimal disturbance and protective clothing.

Don’t forget to choose frames for extraction and cut comb for the Honey Show on Sunday, August 25!

Feeding bees should be done immediately after harvest removal, to ensure that the bees do not starve if there is a period of poor weather.

Treatment to reduce the varroa mite load in colonies should be applied early rather than later, so that any ‘winter’ bees will be born with as little depredation from the mite as possible.

The mites feed on the fat bodies of both the larva in the cell, and the adult bee. They also help spread viruses throughout the bee colony.

Many essential oil-based treatments are temperature sensitive, and if treatment is delayed, will not be as effective as its label suggests.

Some of the other questions will be answered by referring to hive records, but reduction of stress in winter means ensuring colonies are healthy, well fed, and in sound hives with no unnecessary interference during cold weather, whether from man or beast, and no trees dripping rain onto roofs.

Don’t forget the upcoming Honey Show at Florence Court House on Sunday, August 25. All entries welcome!