Recent Events

Many things in life can trigger in us, time to reflect.

You know the sort of thing - close escapes, moments of kindness, emotional trauma, unexplained happenings, unexpected encounters, disbelief in the actions of others etc.

Well, the past 14 or so days have presented me with a varied selection of ways to reflect. Good and bad, puzzling and obvious, annoying and gratifying.

Let me explain.

I have been a keeper of bees for almost as long as I can remember. sometimes with success, often with failure, but always with a sense of gratification that the bees exist, not only as part of the greater plan to help our survival on this fragile planet we call Earth, but also to add to the rich and varied life and wonderment of the human race.

I don`t morally own my bees any more than I own the thousands of acres of fabulous and bounteous Scottish countryside, over which they are free to fly at any time, any where they choose. I suppose that I may briefly own bees that I may buy commercially from the bee breeders, but surely, as soon as I hive the bees in one of my hives, the bees are free spirits and can just as easily merrily fly off, to what to them is a more attractive location. leaving me out of pocket and out of luck. I merely own the structures in which I hope that they will cluster and carry out their focused lives. If I am lucky, my clumsy attempts at husbandry do not cause them to decamp and in good years I can steal a proportion of their hard gotten gains - the honey crop.

I don`t own the land on which my apiaries stand either, but I refer to those small parcels of land, as my apiaries as a matter of course. My bee hives are there due to the goodwill and co-operation of enlightened land owners, who appreciate the benefit that bees will surely bring to the flora of the surrounding land and to the eventual mutual benefit of us all.

Bees have been at my Scottish Borders Apiary for around 20 years. I was asked if I would like to take over the site by a beekeeper from Edinburgh, who sadly, through the passage of time, family health problems and the high cost of fuel, was finding it difficult to find the time to tend to the bees. He was given the bees and equipment by another beekeeper who had sadly also been unable to devote enough time to the upkeep of the hives. Unfortunately, among the 20 or so individual bee hives only a few were deemed to be worth saving and restoring. most were not and were beyond any economic repair.

Ted, (not his real name) told me that he thought that several years had passed since the hives had received any serious attention, before he became aware of them, but a few colonies had survived and were worth saving. He tidied up the site and repaired and replaced some hives and they were starting to thrive .
Ted was experiencing difficulties finding time to devote to the bees, and happily accepted my offer to take over the apiary, hives and bees.
So here I was once again patron to bees. This time in the Scottish Borders. I spent time and some money in restoration and made a decision that during my first year with these bees I would assess their potential with a view to increasing stocks and building up the colonies with the aim of better honey production in the future.
New stands were made, frames rescued and fitted with fresh foundation. old equipment was removed and either made serviceable, renewed or discarded, and the bees once again responded and gathered quite large quantities of honey.
Came the time this autumn to assess the situation in the apiary, to see if any colonies needed further help to go through the winter, so I paid a visit to the apiary.
Nothing.
No Bees, no hives, no stands, just empty spaces, a small pile of black ash, some scrap hive parts and the obligatory odd bricks that seem to accumulate in almost every apiary.
The whole caboodle had been removed.
Nothing left at all.
Everything, lock stock and barrel had gone!

More to follow on this theme as soon as I can