David Robinson is managing director of Sutons Seeds and National Bee Supplies. His garden on the edge of Dartmoor is designed with pollinators in mind – including his own honey bee colonies.
In early April last year, as I opened our front door, a deliciously sweet and spicy aroma waſted into the house. I’d previously not paid much atention to the large shrub in the island bed other than to think it had quite atractive silvery leaves, but now it was definitely worth looking up. It turned out to be an Eleagnus umbellata (right), a plant which I hadn’t come across before. Noticeable from up to 10m away, the scent is strong but not intense, enveloping you in a warm, rich perfume.
Eleagnus umbellata
On the scent
I know I’m in danger of waxing too lyrical about the scent, but it really is special and, even beter, it lasted for nearly two months. The reason I’m mentioning it here is because it was also wildly atractive to at least half-a-dozen species of bee, including our own honey bees. It’s one of those plants for all the senses: you can see it, touch it, smell it, and, with the eager humming of the bees, even hear it! As if that wasn’t enough, it also fixes nitrogen in root nodules which help it to grow even in quite poor soils. It can produce fruits that make excellent jam and contain high levels of lycopene, a naturally occurring nutrient also found in abundance in tomatoes and associated with the health- giving properties of the Mediterranean diet.
Mentioning lycopene reminds me that a couple of years ago we worked with the TV scientist and author James Wong to study, and then launch, a range of fruit and vegetables
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containing the highest levels of certain nutrients. As part of the study, we grew over 60 varieties of tomato which were then analysed by Exeter University to identify the varieties with the highest levels of lycopene. In James’s book How to Eat Beter, he describes why humans need a balanced diet containing the widest range of vitamins and other phytonutrients, and how simple changes to our diet can help us increase the levels we absorb and probably make us healthier.
Five-to-forage diets
It made me wonder if a similar thing occurs in bees. I found a fascinating article in Knowable Magazine suggesting that bees are able to identify deficiencies in their diet and seek out foods that will provide them (tinyurl. com/BC2020-04-01). The article suggests that a wide and varied diet can increase the health of bee colonies, much in the same way that a ‘five-a-day’ (or ‘ten- a-day’ in James Wong’s book) has been shown to improve human health.
Our long-term aim is to have at least five different nectar- and pollen- rich plants in flower at any one time throughout the year
As the area of Devon we live in contains a lot of grazing pasture which can be short of flowering plants at certain times of the year, our long- term aim is to have at least five different nectar- and pollen- rich plants in flower at any one time throughout the year. The Knowable article encourages me to think that it could help not only to provide more honey, but also give us healthier bees.
Although our field is improved pasture and we’re in the early stages of trying to turn it over to wildflower meadow and woodland, the one flower which really did thrive in April last year was the dandelion. Our bees were super-active and, with 11 acres of dandelions to forage, the honey built up very nicely. We’ve been fortunate enough to have very calm colonies generally but the one time they did become unpleasant last year was for the one week aſter the dandelions started fading. Now I don’t know if it was coincidence, but we put it down to the ending of an abundant food supply right on their
Bee Craſt April 2020
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