Ballycroy National Park

Yesterday I took Maureen and Monika, two friends from the OWLs who are staying in the Folly, for a visit to Ballycroy, the Ballycroy National Park and Visitors Center. There I asked the staff if they were thinking about getting bees. No, but they will have a talk the first half of August by a beekeeper from Westport. When we came back I saw that Timothy the beekeeper had put another storey on one of the hives. A sign that things are going well with the Polranny Pirate Bees! I asked Timothy and he answered this: ‘The bees seem to be growing well. They also have adequate stores which is encouraging as this time of the year is usually an issue. I think clover might be a bit early and sycamore which is all but finished certainly was late. The Visitor Centre is a nice spot. It’s probably Henry Horkan who’ll give the talk. Well worth a listen if you are interested he is quite knowledgeable.’

Rain and Damp

Rain and damp have plaqued these shores for the last 5 weeks. I'm worried about the bees. Are they warm enough? Can they find a honey source? Are the hives thriving? I was very glad to hear that Thimothy the beekeeper was due for another visit. He came late in the day. It was dry but overcast. The bees were still active but not like earlier in the day when they were going in and out of the hives in large numbers. Now the midges were out and for the first time this year they were stinging: much too early for my taste. Apparently when Timothy was here the last time and I was in the Burren, he had discovered that mites pestered the hives. He had put tablets of poison in the hives that he was now taking away again. But there was also good news. The hawthorn had come out in bloom like I had never seen before. Timothy took a photo of one of his bees feasting on the hawthorn blossom.

Bees in Achill Secret Garden

As honey source is the ultimate condition for keeping bees Achill Secret Garden is the place to be. On the last day of April on their daughter’s thirties birthday Timothy the beekeeper installed no less than 4 starter hives in the seaside garden of Pirate’s friends Doutsje and Willem. The garden with all its flowering plants and shrubs is a haven for hungry honey bees. Doutsje and Willem improved and beautified an existing hundred year old seaside garden on the east coast of Achill Island. Since 1967 they have been working non-stop to make this garden the pride of the island. During the past winter they have cleared a section where wind damaged trees darkened the ground. Timothy chose this place for his beehives. It is far from the house and the visitor’s route through the garden.

A home for abandoned shrubs

Every now and than kind people give flowering shrubs to the Polranny Pirates to embellish the garden. Unfortunately they usually are put somewhere to be dealt with later and then forgotten. Sad really. But now I had an idea: I would put flowering shrubs along the screen that stands in front of the beehives. There were four abandoned shrubs in different stages of pitiful to be put to use. I put them in but they hardly made an impact. Next I went begging for sad shrubs with my friends of Achill Secret Garden. They gave me another six orphaned shrubeens that were on the verge of very sad. Now there is a start of a kind of hedge along the screen. That is if nothing dies on me.

When bees do sting

Timothy installed the beehives on the hive stand he had put behind the screen. He wasn’t dressed in a beekeeper’s protective suit and hood. He did not even wear gloves. ‘The bees are still groggy from hibernating. At this stage they are very docile. It is only later in the year, around July and August when they are very busy that they are more liable to sting.’ Of course! As a child I had experienced many times that bees, contrary to wasps, were not sting-happy. They only stung when they felt threatened. Once they put the hook into the human skin, they could not get it out and would die. I remember looking on in horror how after I was stung and I had swiped the bee away in a panic I was left not only with a hook but also with the poison gland sticking out of my skin.