Popular signs of weather
Every beekeeper worries about what is expected in the coming winter, a spring or a long spring is coming, rainy or dry summer, etc. I want to share my observations with readers, who help to predict the weather not for a day or two, but for several months ahead. These are folk signs. They have been tested by me for seven years of bee-keeping and twenty years of observations of nature, generally related to my work, by education I am a forester.
One day, cleaning the onion in his field in autumn, I noticed that the bulbs had only one or two outer scales, and some were without them at all.
I knew that it was a sign of a future mild winter. And it happened. Old residents did not remember the warmer winter, bees flown during the search for New Year trees, and at the time frightening by their name “Epiphany frosts”. And after all, many predicted severe winter then, because bees strongly pre-populated the tapes. This is not the first time that beekeepers have failed. It seems to me that the bees thus protected the late brood from the cold.
Here’s a paradox: pre-packaged tapestries and mild winter. I think the beekeepers will judge whether I am right or not. The predictions of mountain ash are not always true. A rich harvest of berries does not always coincide with the harsh winter.
This sign is more indicative of wet autumn. Recently, I learned that the forecast should be given not by the primary number of berries, but by what kind of mountain ash leaves in winter, as often berries are pecked by birds. In our places, the future frosts can be confidently predicted by the large number of acorns on oak. Apparently, the millennial evolution of the indigenous breed of our forests has polished this dependence.
Here is another sign of the harsh winter – the larvae of the May beetle with an overloaded intestine. After this winter, spring is usually late, but
Usually, the cock that will drink water from the puddle – on May there will be a lot of grass and, I will add, good conditions for the development of bees, is also not mistaken.
The first swallow, really, does not do spring. In our locality, its appearance usually coincides with the return of cold weather and the last snow. A little later comes a time when you can give a forecast for the summer – if the city swallows build and occupy the old nests on the sunny side of the buildings, the summer is cold and vice versa. The abundance of May beetles indicates a rainy summer.
The dry summer I once predicted, finding a nest of a thrush, located low above the ground. The bird “understood” that in such a way it would only create normal conditions for the incubation of eggs. Later I became convinced of the correctness of the forecast and predicted a warm autumn for late broods of ringed turtledoves and other pigeons. Practice shows that after a rainy and cold spring it is seldom the same summer. And vice versa, after a favorable spring there is a cold and rainy summer, and if the beekeeper does not collect a lot of honey, he can replenish the apiary with new families.
Old beekeepers recommended predicting the “mediocrity” of the summer on the feast of Evdokia (March 14): if this day is a spot, then honey will be in abundance. By the way, early Easter often coincides with early spring.
In general, do not ignore the people’s experience, although a critical approach will never interfere. The elderly beekeepers look ridiculous, who, despite the weather, wait for warm Alexey in our area, and at this time their young enterprising colleagues in apiaries are replaced by a generation of bees and electric heating stimulates the appearance of a huge number of brood.
And then came autumn. If there is a lot of late brood in the nests, then do not rush to bring bees into the room with the onset of cold weather. In winter there will be conditions for flying around, although snow and frost can collapse suddenly. “Take on the fright” – the reception of the weak, it means that this winter will be warm, but in our places it is also not very snowy or without snow at all. A large number of fish in the forest and late broods of birds say that the heat will still hold. But the beekeeper should not trust the fate of his apiary of autumn. Grow bees should be immediately after the end of the main honey collection. Strong and provided with natural food, the family will endure any winter, will actively develop in the spring and give a lot of honey in the summer.
Maybe not all beekeepers will agree with my predictions, other signs will prompt. They can be different for different natural areas. But, I hope, will not be indifferent to the sacraments of nature, allowing onions, bees, May beetles and swallows to teach us meteorological knowledge.
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