Thistledown.

We're looking after Hamish this week-end, so he was left sitting patiently in the car while I helped Tyro with his bee problem. The colony that I gave him a few months ago is thriving, but the one that he bought for an exorbitant fee, and then threw more money at it in an attempt to save it, is struggling. I don't think the supplier was at fault as the problem is a fairly common one this year. We decided he should put it out of its misery by uniting the two colonies, which I assume has now been done – I would have heard if there had been any difficulties.

Hamish had his reward for good behaviour when we stopped at Penicuik House for a walk, going as far as The Low Pond where I saw the thistle seed head which reminded me of a picnic at the heather when I first started bee keeping. In those days, the club's leading member was professional and so it fell to him to inspect the hives while us lesser mortals stood on and watched in amazement. He suddenly turned to our senior member and said that he had no idea what the honey in the colony he had open was and asked what SM thought it might be. A quick smell followed by a finger plunged into the comb, and then his mouth, brought the response, “Thistle.” So here, allegedly, a colony in the middle of a vast heather moor was spurning one of Scotland's finest forage plants in favour of a common weed.

As was my wont, before getting my first bees, I thought long and hard about which of the many hive styles would suit me; I chose the Smith hive; it has its short-comings but is small, as suits the Scottish climate and a bee keeper who does not have a great deal of upper body strength; its other virtues are a little technical for my bite-sized discourses. Any road up, our senior member knew the famous Willie Smith of Innerleithen, designer of the hive and a prolific bee keeper, and used to help him move his hives to and from the heather using a motor bike and a heavily modified sidecar. Willie's skills are still revered in The Borders and it is claimed that he was the first professional bee keeper in Scotland; he died in 1969 at nearly 80 years old.