> Please do not believe all that you read in the papers.  In  my experience
> this year the poor honey harvest is almost exclusively down  to the cold 
> wet
> weather prevalent for most of the "summer"  .

Agree completely.  Last year's poor weather meant that colonies went into 
winter without adequate number of young bees - and with poorly mated queens, 
many of which failed during the winter.  30% losses meant that we had to 
rebuild our stocks this year, but the overwintered colonies were in a very 
poor condition this spring.  We needed some good weather to get things 
going - but instead had very cold, dry winds for most of May when the 
oilseed rape was in flower.  Then the rain started and we have been bogged 
down in mud for most of the year; some apiaries where we normally drive 
without problems have become unreachable - even with 4x4 and tyres with 
attitude!

Looking back at the colonies that we had in April, it seems a miracle that 
we have managed to rebuild numbers - and have 50% of our normal crop.  But 
now we are facing a similar situation to last year because the bad weather 
throughout the summer has left us with smaller colonies than normal with 
less young bees than normal - and potentially poorly mated queens.  I will 
be surpised if we do not have losses of around 25% or more this winter.

Best wishes
Peter Edwards
beekeepers at stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

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