In the final part of Bee Friendly, Paul Hirons checks his bees before closing up the hive ... The Queen Excluder and Brood Box I look down and see the Queen Excluder.  This stops the Queen laying eggs in the honey super above the brood box.  I look down onto the Queen Excluder and see the colony of bees.  I reach for my smoker and gently smoke them and hear the humming noise go loud again.  They are gently murmuring.  I use my hive tool to gently prise up the Queen Excluder and I peel it off gently.  I don’t want to create any fuss. Read more...

Paul Hirons, beekeeper, continues his visit to the hive.  Now the bees have been smoked and quietened down, it's time to take the top off the hive and find out what's going on ... It’s a little bit daunting wearing a veil over your face for the first time and opening up a hive. Bees will land on the veil and you’ll think they are inside and going to sting your face.  Keep calm and remember you’ve worn the bee jacket and know it well.  There are no holes in it and nothing is going to get in.  Stand firm and keep calm. Read more...

On one level a biography of Madeleine Bunting’s father, but also a history of a small piece of land on the edge of the North York Moors owned by her father, Read more...

We have finally emerged from winter. Met Office statistics confirm what we know and have experienced, namely that this last winter was colder and snowier than other recent winters.  The average temperature in the UK this winter was 1.6oC; this is some 2.1oC below the average.*  For England and Wales, it was the coldest winter since that of 1978/9.  In Scotland, it was even more extreme; only the winter of 1962/3 was colder.  The winter was also characterised by snow (and disruption); 20cm of snow was recorded in parts of southern England in early January and 30cm in central and northern Scotland in late February. Read more...

Paul Hirons, beekeeper, continues his visit to his beehive.  He's got his gear on and the smoker is ready.... I move over to the hive and stand away from the entrance.   I see bees flying in and out of the colony so I stand to one side;  I don’t want them flying into me.  They don’t care about me; they are busy.  My kids used to play in a sand pit in front of one of my hives and never batted an eyelid when the bees flew past them and around them. Read more...

Another reason to get your boots on and take a walk in the woods this Easter weekend ... Learn how to gauge the maturity of trees in this video clip from the "Walking in the Woods" series with Professor Julian Evans. Read more...