Sunny day and lots of foraging. Now can see the pollen and smell the characteristic nectar of the ivy. Seems to have come into flower quite late, and quite a lot of it is still not out yet.

Am still keen to mark queen in hive 2. They were roaring but not stinging today. Brood nest covering 7 frames and full, including lots of eggs....not that many stores although quite a lot of new pollen being stored. Gave some syrup. I think it would be good for the queen to slow down now.......

In addition to last year's recollections, I thought I ought to add a note about current activities. (For last year only, select 2008 in the 'Local Categories').

It's amazing the difference a couple of weeks makes. Two weeks ago I was clearing snow from my front path and wondering how cold my bees were feeling. It was their first winter in my garden (OK, only the Queen actually gets the opportunity to compare) but they could be in a frost hollow, or very damp or... Anyway, nothing...

Big box arrived today from Thornes. Quick. Full of my bargains. Really well packed and lovely smell of cedar.

Suspect I might have managed to buy things, sorry, bargains, I thought were a good idea at the time, but later turned out not to be. Haven't quite worked out how the bits you can put in the super frames to make sections (bee-o-pac) work. Am a bit confused about the varroa screens too. I imagined they were floors, but they look small. We'll see if either was a sensible...

Whilst working in the garden yesterday, I thought I heard a car coming down the track to our house. I looked around and saw a cloud of bees in swarm transit coming across the front of our house. Satisfyingly, I watched them come down and take over one of my bait hives. Now I knew these were not from my one remaining hive. I only checked them last week and they were not in any position for swarming. On closer inspection, these new bees are much darker than my original bees. I examined the trajectory...

Like so many British beekeeping novices, I began with a 'WBC' hive – the kind with sloped-sided outer boxes enclosing the brood chamber and supers. Soon, I acquired a couple more and began to realize that, if I was to continue along this road, I would have to build myself a big shed in which to house all the spare woodwork and other paraphenalia that was rapidly accumulating – and I would have to find a way to pay for all the 'extras' I would soon be needing.

At this point I asked...