Roaring Bees

We have recently trekked all the way to the Outer Hebrides. I did get quite a-lot of satisfaction when people asked me where we were going on holiday and I could reply with ‘ we are camping in the Outer Hebrides’ which was usually followed by short silence whilst people wondered what to say next. I also found it to be a bit of a conversation stopper when people tended to realise the extent of their personal knowledge of Great Britain and actual whereabouts of the islands. It became a bit of a refrain whilst packing for the holiday when one of us would say ‘its not like we are going to the Outer Hebrides’ only for the other to grin inanely and say ‘ah, but we are!’

As for camping, this seemed like a great idea after a trip a few years ago in bright sunshine, when much fun was had seeking out pretty shells and stones, gently prodding jellyfish – I know, I know, but the littlest beekeeper was only 4 years old and it was a huge fascination to see these animals actually wild on the beach, we were careful, no harm was inflicted. We had camped that year and intended to do it again this time on Barra, one of the most southerly of the islands, attached to Vatersay (home of the sea eagles) and one short ferry ride from Eriskay (home of the wreck of the SS Politican, aka Whiskey Galore). If none of this makes sense google it, good for a few minutes and will assist with pub quiz training I imagine.

That last holiday was Famous Five and Swallows and Amazons rolled into one with adventures all day. Mainly because it didn’t rain much, and that was because it was being saved up in a great sky rain butt for this years holiday. You know how the Scandinavians have 40 different words for snow, I used at least 40 different words for the type of rain we had, not all of them publishable. However, we are not put off by a bit of rain, every day, relentlessly, and still had a-lot of fun, Boy Beekeeper bravely described our camping trip as an adventure, even the bits that were a little bit testing.

Anyway there is a point to telling you all this. I met a real life Barra beekeeper! Her name is Sarah and she works in the Bùth Bharraigh, which is the shop the islanders keep for selling their own products and the things they would like to buy, providing information and other cool things.

Sarah has one hive and like us and had a rotten summer bee-wise. She has an angry queen too and so, also like us is going to have to start again in the Spring with a new hive. There are only around 5 beekeepers on Barra and this is mainly due to the fact that a) there are only around 5 people interested and b) the islanders are careful to ensure that the native bees are kept safe and there is no over population from non native ones. All the honey bees come from Colonsay and are black native bees shipped over in NUCs. I wondered about the weather, given our experience of the rain on Barra and how at home the rain had thwarted our Queens maiden flights. Sarah told us how she had her polystyrene hive strapped with 2 straps on to pallets which she had placed by the brambles to allow them to clamber around the pallets to anchor them to the ground, as the biggest issue was 100mph winds and keeping the hive in one place.

Honey from Sarah’s hive is from the flowers and plants around the island earlier in August, and is a dark amber colour but then later the honey is from the heather which we saw all round the island and is a beautiful strong purple colour, and makes the honey a treacly colour. It sounds amazing to me, but there is so little produced that it tends to stay in the beekeepers houses and not in the shops! I can understand that, I think a dark treacly heather honey would sell out in an instant.

The point about the honey bees not taking over is also really important as the Hebrides (on the left of Scotland towards the very top if you are still geographically confused) is home to the Great Yellow Bumblebee – Bombus distinguendus and the Moss Carder Bumblebee – Bombus Muscorum. I’ve gone a bit technical and all Latin there for a moment but when I said the names aloud on the ferry back from Barra I came over all what we call in our family ‘anoraky’ and quite liked it so I thought I would pop them in so it seems like I know stuff like that without looking it up. I cannot find pictures of these I can use without some kind of threat or fine so if anyone reading can post one in the comments it would be fab! Hubby and the Boy Beekeeper actually saw the Moss Carder Bumblebee on the campsite we stayed in over the wild roses there but didn’t realise at the time (in fact they have only just mentioned it) that these are rare bees only living in the Hebrides out of the whole of the UK. They are truly beautiful and worth looking out for with their big orange back spots.

Check out below the links to the Barra Community Shop where Sarah works and you could, if you fancy it, send them some bunting for their project – see the link, we are going to give it a go, there is a template to download on the website.

https://www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk/information/product-catch-all/buth-bharraigh-p531091

Thank you Sarah, it was a pleasure chatting to you and hope the new season brings you and your bees much honey, no stings and a mellow happy queen!