The gentle art of beekeeping
A midsummer tale for the middle of winter.
High summer.
The swarm season had been and gone.
The 'June gap' - the period of dearth between the oil seed rape going over and the smorgasbord of mixed summer forage becoming available - had barely registered.
Week after glorious week of sunshine, interspersed with enough rain (often overnight) to delay the annual threat of hosepipe bans and - more importantly - to ensure no interruption to the summer nectar.
It was shaping up to be a great season.