I don’t know when the wasps last failed, but they certainly have this year. As always there were plenty of queen wasps in the spring, but they need great amounts of protein to build bodies. Unlike honey bees that get their protein from pollen, wasps being omnivorous get their protein by consuming caterpillars and greenfly in vast quantities thus becoming beneficial insects. They also make paper from wood in order to construct a very well-designed nest. Wasps aren’t nearly as sophisticated as honey bees but they deserve more respect than they get. The fact that there are so few about reminds us of the atrocious weather earlier in the year. We are therefore lucky that our bees have done well on field beans and flowers planted by farmers to secure payments from the government.
The bees are now on the heather hills of the Lammermuirs, the Cheviots and Black Heddon nearer the coast. Some heather came into flower at the end of July, other moor’s struggled to come out at all in the more exposed moors. The red grouse have all but disappeared with the odd pair rearing chicks in August. There will be a small crop of heather honey however, which comes as a welcome surprise. A keeper asked me if I could remember a more difficult season and, yes, 1985 was much worse. The bees had to be fed all summer, especially at the heather. The years of 1986 and 1987 were little better. Many commercial beekeepers in Scotland packed up for the duration, getting going again in 1988. If varroa mites had been present in the colonies at that time every beekeeper in the North would have ceased trading, including Chain Bridge. As it was a beefarmer in the Borders had 6 colonies living out of 600 in the spring of 1986 and another beefarmer much further north lost 1000 colonies at that time.
I dare say global warming will have made a difference since then but there is an area stretching down the Northumberland coast south of Berwick to the Tyne where putting bees in fields is risky unless there is exceptional shelter. Winds come from ‘a’ the airts, night and day, making it difficult for colonies to survive. This year the farmers in those localities have experienced a drop in yield of wheat of up to 75%, with dire consequences I’m sure. We’ve been lucky, very lucky.
