Yesterday was still very cold, but as we had to feed the Bee Good colonies to prevent them starving, we did so anyway.  The winter seems to be dragging on forever here in the UK this year and is a huge contrast to 2012.  Looking back at my colonies records for last year, I saw that we had temperatures of well over 20C for a week in March and I had my first swarm out of the main apiary on 3rd April!

I thought I would look at the long term forecast for April to get an idea of when we might be able to undertake the 1st spring inspection for 2013. It makes for rather depressing reading… According to the chart below, I might be able to conduct a spring inspection on the colonies some time around the 16th-17th of April when we reach the giddy heights of a predicted 16C before the weather cools down again back to 9-10C.

I though 2012 was the worst beekeeping year in living memory – it seems 2013 is already trying for the record….