Friday Is The Day,

that Steve moves his bees from the travel box to the hive,

I left early,

and made my way past the snail mail box, the sky looing a bit overcast, and it was decidedly chilly, which as it turned out was not a bad thing,

the bluebells in Foxgrove Lodge putting a really good show,

but they are a different variety than the ones in the woodlands,

walking towards Steve and Kai's house I could not help but think that this year there will be a good crop of horse chestnuts, this the first,

the second,

and third of three trees laden with flowers,

a quick look into Cator Park,

and I was soon at Steve's, all in place,

Buddy said hello,

but was not too sure of what was going on,

so he kept his distance,

after arriving yesterday the 'bee door' was kept open,

it is recommended to keep the bees in their travel box for 24 hours, with just this bee door open,

Steve got kitted up,

whilst Kai and myself kept our distance and took a few photographs of the event,

the time had arrived,

to carefully cut the tape keeping the lid on,

and use the smoker to subdue the bees,

I was keeping my distance, but moved in closer as I started taking photographs,

open the box,

a few puffs,

and Steve carefully removed the first of the 5 frames,

some where in there is the Queen,

well on one of the sides of the 5 frames,

easy does it!

no sign of her so far,

but in the last two frames there were so many bees,

it would be easy to miss her,

the last one,

and still no sign of her,

but we are both sure she must be in there somewhere,

next gently tap the travel box,

and tip any loose bees,

into the hive, where they soon made their way down into the frames,

next the Queen mesh, as the Queen is slightly larger than the other bees, this stops her from flying from the nest,

but it did not quite fit, wax had to be removed from the top of the frame to allow the mesh to fit,

some liquid food was placed into the hive and the lid fitted, all went well and as a bonus nobody was stung! I mentioned it was a bit cold, as it happens the cold meant that the bees were a little less active than they normally are, so that was alright then!

I also made a short video of the operation, great fun for all, except Buddy who is still not sure about all of this! after a coffee I made my way home,

it was soon time for my Friday evening read and sherry,

followed by a red Leicester cheese and onion sandwich,

next into the park and a walk,

to the gate that leads to the rear of the club,

one of the neighbours camellias putting on a good show,

so many flowers on the gound, it must have looked stunning a few days ago,

the cherry tree now just past its best,

the cricket pitch now looking very good after the winters rest, the pitch marked out ready for this season,

I meet Steve in the club where we chatted away, after we said our farewells I walked home, shortly afterwards Diana arrived home, so it was feet up for a coffee, a chat and a Silent Witness, I am only making this one post today as Saturday is Diana's day off, and we will be out early, so with that we were off to bed.