We’re very pleased to report that our bees seem to have survived the Siberian blizzards and subzero temperatures that stuck the Cotswolds, as well as much of the rest of the country, earlier this month. We won’t be carrying out any proper inspections for a few weeks yet, but there’s evidence of activity in all the hives in our apiary.

It’s not a huge surprise, since bees are actually well equipped to survive cold weather. Adopting similar behaviour to penguins, they huddle together in a ball and rotate their position, taking it in turns to spend time on the colder outer edges of the ball and then warming up in the centre, where they create heat by vibrating and buzzing around the queen. During the winter, they feed on the stores of honey in the hives - we left a full super in one hive and fondant in another - so they only need to venture outside for water and toilet breaks!

We’re looking forward to seeing them out and about collecting nectar in the spring sunshine soon.