A Stepping Stone

Elusive Queens, Super Additions, and Some Pesky Wasps

At Paul’s inspection this week, the surviving WBC was observed to be doing well, with lots of eggs and brood present. He still couldn't find the queen but the quantity of visible eggs prove that she must be in there somewhere. The bees have almost filled their second super so a third has been added. As you can see from the photo, it’s looking very tall!
It’s nicely balanced in size by the national hive which is also performing so well that it has received a third super too. Plenty of eggs and brood were present in this hive, and the queen was easy to spot here, which is great.

Combining the Control Plots & Sowing for Winter

We were delayed slightly by a flat tyre and a slipping belt on the combine, but after we inflated the tyre and re-tensioned the belt we were off. It took us three hours to get the crop in, and it’s now gone to the Adams farm as we have no way of processing it, yet. We have a perennial sowthistle problem in the spring barley plots, which restricts the yield. We harvested 4.5 tons, so about a ton per acre, which is not great, considering the cost of inputs - we used 2 herbicides, broadleaf and graminicide, nitrogen fertiliser and a fungicide.

Away from these control plots, we’re using the time honoured low input/low risk method of farming, and are keeping detailed records of the results to make a proper comparison. Watch this space.


As part of our eight year rotation, we sowed stubble turnips and forage rape for the sheep to graze on over winter, once the grass in the ley has stopped growing. It will also prepare the way for spring wheat which will be sown next spring.

As we found the crop a bit lacking last year we also mixed in some crimson clover to add nitrogen to the soil and to provide a higher protein content in the forage. This is not standard practice but as we are still building soil fertility we’re making use of any opportunity to put in soil improving legumes.

We are still experimenting with the shallow plough but it didn’t work too well, as it wasn’t inverting the old ley, so we had to use the conventional deep plough on this occasion. But we’ll keep persevering with the shallow plough until we perfect the technique.

Honeydale Bird Report 2017

The latest bird report from Honeydale is available to view and as you'll see, things are still on the up and up in terms of species diversity and overall numbers, although there are some blips with declines of a few key species (e.g. Yellowhammer). But overall the farm is gaining and holding onto more species than ever before - the species diversity has increased by an impressive 46% since the first year of survey (2014).

A Sunnier August

Two years ago we, held our first event at Honeydale on a very sunny weekend. Here's a re-cap for those whose Wednesday morning might need brightening up a little.

On Saturday we held the Wychwood Project Pollinator Day at Honeydale Farm and it can only be described as a HUGE success. All at Honeydale would like to thank everybody who came and showed huge interest in what is happening at the farm, as well as those Cotswold Seeds staff who showed such enthusiasm in making it an enjoyable event for all involved.