We have just had a quick succession of three storms pass over London. One hive had its roof blown off, and one of the nucleus colonies was blown over! Alhamdulillah, they both appear fine, but we won’t really know if this has caused any problems until our first spring checks.

We asked one of our beekeepers, Khalil, to reflect on the last year, and look forward to the year ahead.

Reflecting on 2021

The start of 2021 was difficult for our bees; it was reported to be the coldest spring in over 60 years. The bees did not have an opportunity to start foraging until late April, whereas most years they would be out by early March. Our locally adapted bee colonies are frugal in the use of stores, so were able to manage this unusual period quite well. We did however have to keep a careful eye on their stores, and had to feed a couple of the smaller colonies to ensure they did not starve.

For the first time we were able to run beekeeping courses and experience days at the mosque. The facilities available to us mean we can run both the theory and practical aspects on site, and teach our beginner beekeepers all they need to know to manage their own hives. We have enough hives on the roof to allow us to go into various hives, and each attendee had plenty of opportunity to get hands on. I am glad to say we have had some very positive feedback and are looking to run the course again this year.

Our experience days also went well, everyone who attended was able to suit up, examine the hives with us, ask questions, take photos, and had a lovely time understanding the benefits bees bring, why we decided to keep bees at the mosque, and what the life of a beekeeping involves. 

Due to the late start of the beekeeping year, honey collecting was understandably impacted; although our colonies did manage to bring in some excess, we decided to not remove too much. We took the opportunity last year to rear a number of new queen bees, and now have new queens in most of our colonies.

Winter was quite warm, which is not good for the bees – a sustained period of cold means the queen stops laying, less varroa breed within the hives, and the colony being less active means it uses less stores. The last check revealed they all have stores and at this time appear to be healthy and strong.