May 2026 in the Apiary: The First Honey of the Season

May is always one of my favourite months in the beekeeping calendar.

If April is about preparation, May is when you start seeing the results of all that work. Colonies are expanding rapidly, the first honey supers are filling properly and every inspection seems to reveal something new.

This year, May also brought our first honey harvest of the season.

After an exceptionally warm and dry spring here in North Shropshire, the bees made the most of the conditions. Colonies built strongly, forage was abundant and by the end of the month we were extracting the first Spring Honey of 2026.

Of course, just as we started thinking about honey harvests, the bees started thinking about swarming.

The First Honey of the Year

Harvesting the first honey of the season is always a milestone.

By the time we're extracting honey, the colonies have already been working towards it for months. The foundations were laid long before a single frame went into the extractor.

This year's Spring Honey reflects the early forage available around our apiaries, including OSR, hedgerow blossom, orchard blossom and sycamore.

One thing that has been particularly interesting this year is how differently the two apiaries have behaved.

The honey from Lyneal has set quickly, as we'd normally expect from a spring harvest. The Myddle honey, however, has remained runny, albeit thick and rich, even several weeks after extraction.

The two apiaries are only a few miles apart, but the bees are clearly working slightly different forage sources. It's a good reminder that honey reflects the landscape around the hive, and that small differences in location can produce surprisingly different results in the jar.

Once extracted, every batch is filtered, settled and jarred separately. We keep detailed records throughout the process, allowing full traceability from hive to jar.

It takes a little more work than blending everything together, but we think it's worth it. Every jar can be traced back to the apiary it came from, preserving the character of that particular harvest rather than averaging everything into a single product.

Sticky Work

People often imagine honey extraction as simply putting frames into an extractor and turning a handle.

The reality involves rather more cleaning.

Frames need uncapping, honey needs filtering and settling, equipment needs preparing and, eventually, everything needs washing down afterwards.

It's sticky work, but it's also one of the most satisfying jobs of the year. Seeing buckets of fresh honey emerge from the extractor after months of watching the bees build towards this point never really gets old.

By the end of May, the first batches were being prepared for jarring and getting ready to head out to customers and stockists.

The Bees Had Other Ideas

While we were busy thinking about honey, the bees were focused on something else entirely.

May is when swarm season really gets underway.

From the colony's perspective, a swarm is simply reproduction. A strong colony reaches a certain size, begins raising a new queen and prepares to divide.

For the beekeeper, however, it's a reminder that colonies can change remarkably quickly at this time of year.

Much of the month was spent inspecting colonies for queen cells, monitoring colony strength and making sure the bees had enough space to continue developing without feeling the need to leave home.

A hive that looks perfectly comfortable one week can feel very different seven days later.

It's one of the reasons spring inspections become so important.

Nearly Ready

The summer nucleus colonies also continued developing well throughout May.

The queens introduced earlier in the spring have generally established strongly, and it's been pleasing to watch these small colonies steadily grow into balanced, productive nucs.

By the end of the month, many were looking very different from the colonies we first made up earlier in the season.

Good brood patterns, expanding populations and increasing food stores are all encouraging signs at this stage of the year.

For us, one of the most rewarding parts of raising nucleus colonies is seeing that progression. What begins as a few frames of bees and brood gradually develops into a thriving young colony ready for its next chapter.

Seeing the Landscape Through the Bees' Eyes

One of the things I enjoy most about May is how quickly the countryside changes from the bees' perspective.

The OSR remained a major nectar source around many of our apiaries, but it certainly wasn't the only thing in flower.

Hedgerow blossom was abundant this year, orchard blossom continued through much of the month and sycamore provided valuable nectar and pollen as colonies expanded rapidly.

Towards the end of May, some of the forage that contributes to our summer honey also began making an appearance. Clover became increasingly noticeable and the first bramble flowers started appearing in sheltered locations.

When you're keeping bees, it's difficult not to start noticing these things.

A flowering hedgerow, an overlooked patch of clover or a line of brambles along a field edge suddenly becomes much more interesting when you realise thousands of bees are relying on it.

What Surprised Me This Month

What surprised me most this year was the contrast between the two spring honey harvests.

When we extracted them, both looked broadly similar. A few weeks later, the Lyneal honey had set beautifully, while the Myddle batch remained runny.

It's exactly the sort of thing that keeps beekeeping interesting. The bees don't read the textbooks, and every season seems to produce something slightly unexpected.

It's also a reminder that honey is a genuine agricultural product. Weather, location and forage all leave their mark on the final jar, often in ways that only become obvious after harvest.

Looking Ahead to June

The spring honey may now be safely in jars, but the season is really only just getting going.

June will bring more swarm management, more inspections and, for many colonies, a continued push to make the most of the summer forage ahead.

We'll also be completing collections and deliveries of this year's summer nucs, which is always one of the highlights of the beekeeping calendar.

One of the highlights of May has also been reading the feedback coming in from customers enjoying this year's honey and previous nucs. As a small family beekeeping business, those messages genuinely mean a lot.

Further ahead, we'll be watching the bramble, clover and other nectar sources closely. If conditions remain favourable, we're hoping these will contribute to our Blossom Honey harvest later in the summer.

For now, though, it's simply good to walk through the apiaries and hear that unmistakable hum that tells you the bees are busy and the season is in full swing.