My visit to the bees today was almost a textbook example of artificial swarming, except that it wasn't. Non-beekeepers may want to skip the rest of this section and go straight on to the visit to the art gallery afterwards. Beekeepers, or people who like thrillers better if they have a great deal of technical detail, may wish to stick with me.
It was a beautiful sunny calm morning, the sort of day that is perfect for doing an inspection. The lettuce workers weren't working too close. I opened hive number two, the one with golden bees in it that is always good tempered. On the second frame in I thought I saw the queen. But then I couldn't see her again, even after looking very carefully. I put the frame to one side in the spare box and went through the rest of the hive. There were eggs, so I knew they weren't planning on swarming immediately, but there were some queen cells. I didn't find the queen. The bees began to get lively, as they had been open for a long time, so I decided that my chances of finding the queen were now low and that I'd better destroy the queen cells as the next best method of swarm control. Finally I took the second frame out of the spare box where I'd put it, and there was the queen, plain as anything. But by then I'd destroyed the queen cells. Or possibly not. I could have missed one or two and they could still swarm.
It so nearly went perfectly, but didn't. Lessons to be learnt as follows. I should mark my queens. I should have concentrated harder when I thought I saw her on the second frame, then I would not have been in any doubt that I did see her. I should have trusted my instincts that I had seen her and not tried to doublecheck. I should have checked the spare frame periodically while going through the rest of the hive given my initial hunch that it had the queen on it. Given that I had removed the queen from the colony it isn't surprising that they became so restless after a short while.
Fingers crossed they do not swarm, and I get to keep the two supers of honey that have filled since the weather turned a bit damper, and are not quite ready to take yet. Fingers crossed I keep all my bees, since they are particularly nice ones. A slight doubt crosses my mind, suppose they are trying to supercede and not swarming?
That 's enough about bees. The rest of you can come out from behind the sofa now. In the afternoon I went to Saffron Walden to visit the the Fry Art Gallery. This is a lovely little Victorian purpose built gallery founded by a philanthropic local businessman, which houses a significant collection of works by artists associated with Essex, including Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden. I'd been meaning to go for a couple of years, ever since I discovered it existed, and the planned visit gained a sense of urgency when I saw in the papers that they had got the loan of 18 Ravilious watercolours until 14 August. I persuaded a friend from work to come along, and planned a scenic route that took in her house and avoided the A120 and the A12.
The gallery is really worth seeing. It isn't very big, and each year they mount an exhibition for the entire season, which runs from Easter Sunday until the last Sunday in October, and use the smaller of their two main rooms for a series of temporary exhibitions, which is where the 18 watercolours fitted in. The bits of the permanent collection we saw today were excellent, absolutely first class, assuming you are a fan of mid twentieth century graphic art, which I am. I was particularly taken by some bold Edward Bawden linocuts, and a set of Ravilious coloured lithographs of submarines. There are also some examples of woodcuts shown with the wooden printing blocks, and a cabinet of Ravilious designed china. Some of the watercolours, both the temporary loans and from the collection, are exquisite. The Fry Gallery is a registered charity, staffed by volunteers who style themselves invigilators, and it conveys a delightful air of enthusiastic tranquility. I recommend it highly as an experience.
The Essex-Suffolk borders were looking very pretty as we trundled to Saffron Walden and back, and we saw a few extra bits as I got mildy lost. It was a pity that a mystery light on the car dashboard lit up part way back. On getting home I discovered that it meant an electrical fault, and that my brake lights were stuck on. The Systems Administrator has had to remove the fuse for the night. Heigh ho. The pictures were fantastic, even if the rest of the day didn't go so well.
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