|
Midsummer is the time when bees begin to swarm and beekeepers begin to look for new colonies for their hives.
Dave Tapson, who lives at Spion Kop, near Lamlash, is now asking islanders to let him know of any swarms, and is busy preparing his hives to give them new homes.
Swarming is nature’s way for bees to produce new colonies. The bees leave their home either because it is overcrowded or because their queen is getting old and unproductive, to look for a new one. The queen leaves the hive with some older working bees, leaving behind young bees and an emerging queen.
Dave said he did not know the number of beekeepers on the island but believed there were quite a few. He keeps bees as a hobby and doesn’t sell the honey.
Unlike many other parts of the UK there is a healthy population of honey bees on Arran.
Dave loves his beekeeping and finds a swarm easy to capture. They can be dislodged by jarring or brushing them into a container, or by persuading them to move with a little smoke or some attractive honeycombs.
Once in their new home the first few bees in the hive will ‘fan’ their scent to the others if they approve it, and they then all march in.
