Seitentitel

and long hot summers are unknown. The average annual rainfall is 160 cm ! (as compared to approx. 75 cm in our own country).

"The extreme humidity as well as the chronic lack of sunshine make very special demands on our bees. A bee which is prone to tracheal mite, Nosema or paralysis cannot be kept in our climatic conditions."

The mild winter temperatures caused by the influence of the Gulf Stream cause the bees particular problems. Colonies that have been tempted to an early breeding start can hardly be saved from death by Nosema.

The early flow serves mainly as a development flow. In recent years I was able to observe occasional rapes cultivation in England. Due to the relatively mild winter temperatures, the blossoming period is about a month earlier than in our country. A modest harvest seems possible however.

The main flow in the area around Buckfast is white clover. Following the clover flow, the bees are transported to the heath at the beginning of August. In Brother Adam's early years, this was actually done in wheelbarrows ! However the clover fields have shrunk considerably in the last 20 years and so have the honey crops. Nor has the heather flow improved.

"Between 1920 and 1970 our average yield was about 25 kg. Since 1970 the average crop has only been about half that. There were several disastrous years, such as 1924, but from time to time there were also record crops, as in 1949. The average yield that year was over 90 kg per colony, from the heath alone 36 kg of honey."

Brother Adam blamed the drop in crops in South-West England on the deterioration of the flow as well as on climatic changes.

"Constant cold and unusually dry conditions until the beginning of July prevent the development of white clover and heather. Since 1970 there have been 10 years when we did not move the bees to the heath because there was no hope of a crop, in the previous 50 years this only happened once."

Working Methods

So, since 1930, Brother Adam kept his bees exclusively in (size 12) Dadant hives. Before moving the bees to the heath (at the beginning of August) two of the lateral honeycombs are removed from the brood box. They are broodless at the time. A partition adapts the brood box to the decreasing brood area at this time of year. The heath flow is particularly unreliable, but heather honey is very much in demand, so even a small crop is