Tragi-comic

Today was the day to get re-acquainted with the bees. Don't panic over the headline, they're fine - they are the comic bit. Let's do 'tragedy' first (and yes, I'm being absurdly hyperbolic). This colour-drenched view is from the end of the now apis-less apiary; I'm standing roughly 100m from where the now-silent hives still stand, awaiting their uncertain future

If you think this is linseed/flax, you are wrong, but you get 8/10. If you think it might be Borage, you're still wrong, but you get 9. It is actually Phacelia tanacetifolia (a cousin of Borage). Wiki says its UK common name is 'fiddleneck', but I've never heard anyone use that - in fact I thought that was US idiom. Its partially unrolled flower-heads look like the scroll (rather than the neck!) of a violin. More pertinently and poignantly, it is a copious source of nectar and loved by all pollinators. If we had bees here, they would be devouring it, in the ideal foraging conditions we now have. What might have been...

The one colony we still have in the village enjoyed their holiday with MrsM, and probably did not appreciate the rough treatment I gave them. I shook every bee off every frame in a diligent search for signs of disease. I found none; rejoice. The bee inspector is due any time; I hope her survey is equally barren

The comedy is in the extras. I had left some empty space in the top box of the hive (super). This is usual - it leaves me space to manoeuvre the frames and prevents them getting wedged in tight. Usually the bees ignore the space, or sometimes build a little inconsequential bridging comb across the gap. This colony chose instead to poke a little fun at the beekeeper. They built a perfectly-formed rectangular comb in the gap, aligned with that in all the other frames, only very slightly attached to the box on one face, and floating free around its edges and the adjacent frame

It was as if they were pointing out the incompetence of a beekeeper who has forgotten to provide a full set of frames, by stating that they don't need his help anyway. As you see, I was able to slide it out undamaged in one piece. I have cut it to fit inside a frame, secured it with skewers, and will give it back to them, with appropriate humility. They have put a lot of honey in the box since MrsM visited them on Tuesday. The weather is set fair; the blackberries are coming out; we can hope they will find more. I have prepared another box for them - properly filled this time. That should make them smile