It's funny how a fall of snow makes such a difference to the landscape- it all looks very pristine and clean out there. We have had a few days of snow- laying deep and crisp today it was an obvious invitation to get out there. Most weeks since the bees have moved to Woodborough we have walked over the fields to check them out. After an initial plod on the roads it is a lovely walk down the fields with a view towards the Trent valley in the distance. A bit misty to start with today but it soon cleared and the walk back was cloudy but better visibility.
We had great views of flocks of field-fare, a green woodpecker, sparrow-hawk as well as the usual corvids and wood pigeons. These Jacobs sheep are always in the field at the bottom of the hill - today they were just standing in a line and were still there on the way back!
The beehives looked fine, last time we had been we hefted the hives to see how heavy they were- the 2 that had always been small colonies were still light but the others felt reasonable. Today we just wanted to check the entrances weren't blocked with snow and everything appeared fine- its impossible to know what's happening inside .We just have to hope they have enough stores and are not too cold to move to them.
Sometimes in snowy weather bees think it is bright outside because of the glare on the snow and come outside only to get too cold to get back inside- there were a couple of bees in the snow but no more and all the entrances were clear, so things are looking as well as they could be for now!
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