Honey analysis

[mothhawk]

I sent a sample of summer honey last year to the National Honey Monitoring Scheme, who analyse pollen DNA to see what bees have been foraging on. The results are most intriguing.

45% of the pollen was bramble, about 21% white clover, 8% turnip, 6% field beans, 4% unspecified brassica, then on down to small percentages of various wild and garden flowers and trees.

Some of my bees, however, must have packed suitcases, as there was also pollen from syzygium cumini (Java plum or jambolan), caylusea abyssinica (as the name suggests, a native of East Africa), and trifolium thalii, (mountain clover, found in Switzerland and the Pyrenees). Nicos, if you see my bees, send them straight home please!

After a fair bit of searching, I found that the caylusea is a frequent impurity of niger seed, so it's nice to know someone is feeding the wild birds, but the Java plum has me stumped as it's a tropical tree.

[Nicos]

Wow...that’s amazing!
my daughter has several hives now on her farm.
At the moment they are tucking into her apple blossom orchard.
She has organic flower meadows too - I-bet she’d be interested in doing several tests , one for each season.
Do you have a link please I can forward to her?

All this rain is pretty rubbish for the bees - have you noticed reduced activity because of it MH?

[Nicos]

I should move this thread to the bee section shouldn’t I?....

[Plot70]

There must be someone who has a potted tropical plum that they put out in the garden for the summer each year.

[mothhawk]

Here's the link Nicos

https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/

and this is their aim:

Working in partnership with UK beekeepers, the National Honey Monitoring Scheme aims to use honeybees to monitor long-term changes in the condition and health of the UK countryside. However, we need the help of beekeepers if this scheme is to work.

[mothhawk]

The rain has affected how much foraging the bees are doing, but I'm lucky in having a lot of pollen bearing trees close by my apiary, including a venerable horse chestnut right behind the hives, (which results in the bees being very lavish with propolis too). No OSR last year, and I think I've spotted the one and only field of it this year, a bit too far away when the flying weather is poor, but no doubt the sunny weekend to come will see them busy on it.

[peanut]

This has made me very happy that my lawn is full of white clover but feeling guilty that I am trying to get rid of most of the brambles.

[Containergardener]

^^^funny enough I've given up with brambles . I tame then now and allow them in my "wild zone"

[Nicos]

Here's the link Nicos

https://honey-monitoring.ac.uk/

and this is their aim:

Working in partnership with UK beekeepers, the National Honey Monitoring Scheme aims to use honeybees to monitor long-term changes in the condition and health of the UK countryside. However, we need the help of beekeepers if this scheme is to work.

Thanks for the link...I’ve passed it on.

[peanut]

^^^funny enough I've given up with brambles . I tame then now and allow them in my "wild zone"

Yes, I too have a wild area and allow some to stay in the hedging, but they come up everywhere in everything and it's those I am trying to get rid of. Funny how Brambles grow faster and stronger than anything else is my garden.

[Containergardener]

^^^^ditto