Jonathan: My ‘bee buddy’ Eòghann macLachlainn at Stròm has a huge kitchen garden that he created out of boggy moorland 40 years ago, and now has tall trees to give shelter, and there he has apple and pear trees, fruit bushes galore, and at this time of year every kind of blossom heavy with pollen and nectar a bee could desire.  So after careful preparation yesterday, this evening one of the hives got moved over to Stròm (about 3 miles away as the bee flies, rather more by road) for a few weeks – I’ll bring them back when the peak of the blossom is over. The pollen and nectar will help the colony grow rapidly, and by putting them right in the midst of it the bees will waste little of the energy they collect in flying hither and thither. That’s why I took over the weaker of the current two colonies, as the other is strong enough to cope with the longer distances to bee fodder from An Gàrradh Mòr.