Varroa

I found out that those thousands of mites I saw the other day are not varroa. I had thought them too small, not sufficiently rosy in colour and and not enough like crabs. I was right. I don't know what they are, but they're not varroa. I know this since I found some varroa mites on the varroa floors of both my hives today! Clearly varroa: red and crablike. Argh! I took a sample of both mites into a sealed container and took them home for temporary storage in my freezer to kill them before having them microscoped by someone who knows their bugs. And I totally removed the varroa floor in both hives too.

I also made yet another move of hive2 today. The bees seemed to handle the small move fine. I now have only another 50cm or so to the final desired location, close to a wall at the side of the site.

No news on potential other sites yet. I spoke with some people in the Capital Growth / Food For London group who made some encouraging noises, though this will take a while to come off if at all. I've got many feelers out with other people and organisations too. The trick, though, is to be able to find a local site. If instead I am presented with a site too far away in London then I may well just serve it up to another beekeeper or beekeeping association who is more local since this really makes the most sense. There are many deserving beekeepers out there who'd love a good site. I do feel strangely confident that I'll get a good site, though I know it might well be tricky. Fingers crossed.