It’s mid week, the weather and light are enough that I think I might be able to head out later after dinner and take some photos in the garden. This is one of my favourite things to do. I find it is a perfect way to end the day, taking a minute to enjoy some quiet reflection, capturing beauty before the night folds in. “I’ve checked the bees and we have a nuc hive to move” I am informed and I can see the mirage of my moment in the garden fade as I learn of nuc that needs to head up the road and my help is required. The afternoon moves on, dinner is had, dogs are walked and we are suited up. Before I know it, the nuc is in the boot of the car and we are traveling along to the location that will be the new home of our little hive. Upon arrival there is the usual discussion of fences and lifting and differences in arm lengths and what one can and can not do (6ft 4 vrs 5ft 4) Before I am ready to do what I need to do I see the nuc is over the fence and partly nestled in it’s new location when I hear “there’s a swarm”. Wait, what? Actually there are two swarms. By now I am full cartoon double take, untangling myself from fence and tree and trying to figure out what is going on.
This is when I see swarm number one. A small huddle of bees, slightly bruised and definitely not moving. It lies on the side of the gravel track merging into the grass edge. I am not sure what happened I suspect the cold may have got to them but I must admit it is kinda a heart breaking thing to see. I guess a death of anything in any form is. I frown beneath my veil and then my eye catches movement and I can see huddled together on a sprouting sapling of some sort a small cluster of bees, just enough to warrant being called a swarm. It is moving and looks slightly chilled. We kinda look at each other wondering what to do next as we don’t have anything to scoop the swarm up. I remember the newly purchased tool box we brought to put any food purchased that a waiting airedale might find desirable whilst in the car alone so I retrieve it from the car and we brake off the branch where the swarm is hanging and rest it in the box, hoping the queen is in. Placing the open box on an angle we watch as the bees already scooped up stay and others start marching in the general direction of where the queen must be. This all seems to be going to plan. It is only just as we think we are done that we notice the queen on a bee suit. She is promptly placed in the box, the swarm is taken home to be put into proper bee kit and now as I write whilst it is raining, it is settled in the garden until we know the hive is a bit stronger.
The next day I start work early so I can finish early so I can garden as it is going to be a warm afternoon. I have plans to tidy up a flower bed, the herb bed actually, which is a looking ratty and I most likely won’t touch until this time next year when it has been through a full cycle of the seasons and is looking ratty again. Work is done and I am back inside, making a tea when I notice out the corner of my eye what seems to be a lot of bee activity. A stream of many not into or out of a hive but instead mid way up the very tall rata tree which is at the bottom of the section. I sigh and inwardly pray my eyes are playing tricks on me but no, upon closer inspection, well from a distance given where they are located, I confirm that indeed there is a swarm. Text messages fly and then I wait until the taller of us is home.
Upon his arrival a plan is formed involving a ladder, a box and climbing into the part of the garden which is well down on the list of places that need tidying up, largely because it is a such a big task to undertake. We attempt to catch the swarm, well, what will end up being three attempts - up the ladder, shake the bees into the box, pass box down, clamber through overgrown garden, dump bees (gently) into bee box. We finally got the queen in the cardboard box and then nestled her into her new home upon which point the bees stopped streaming out and back to the spot on the rata tree where they were. While we waited for bees to settle into their new home I grabbed the camera to take some photos, ironically at the time I was planning to the night before, in the quiet of the unfolding evening. The dinner wasn’t made, the dogs weren’t walked and it wasn’t as planned but it was still a moment to capture beauty. I guess you have got to take these moments when you can.