The Bee Work Party Report – Spring 2023

By Christine Lines | Published: 27/05/2023

On the morning of the 29th April, approximately 15 members of the Findhorn Hinterland Trust Work Party met up at the Conservation Hub for our monthly morning get together. Every month we do something different and it is always a great surprise to find out what we are doing for the good of nature on each occasion.

Today was a trip over to the beehive area by the wind turbines to mend, clean out and replace the leaking roof of the FHT bee shed and also to clean, repair and to place some new frames into the nine nearby beehives. 

It was wonderful and fascinating to listen to the bee experts Martin Harker and John Willoner throughout the morning and so to learn about the life of bees and how they go about their day to day living. This is one of the many things I love about our monthly meets, we always learn something new! 

After completing the work on the beeshed and after a break for coffee, tea and biscuits, we dressed up in protective white suits and headgear.  These provided protection against bee stings and enabled us to get up close to the beehives to see inside them and to add some of the honey frames we had just cleaned.

Also during this morning some of us used the tractor to help move the dismantled kitchen office walls recycled from the cleared sanctuary site over to the nearby horse field, ready to be erected as a pony shelter.  This group also reroofed the temporary shelter where the prepared sanctuary columns and beams are being stored next to the field so they are in good condition when needed as the main structural timber for the sanctuary.

We meet up every last Saturday of the month to do this enjoyable and rewarding work. If you would like to join us, please do! It’s from 09:30am to 12:30pm and there’s free tea, coffee and biscuits! And as you can see from the smiles on our faces in the photos, we had a thoroughly great time!

Spencer Julian

Member and New Tea Person!

Posted in News

Chair’s Round Up – Spring 2023

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 27/05/2023

Spring is with us and although there are longer days of light and some sunshine, many days have been cooler than normal so far.  The bees in our apiary have been having a difficult time with this with the result that we have lost four out of the eleven hives due to starvation.  Let’s trust that there will be more warmth soon leading to a good honey harvest later in the year. It has been lovely to have some young people along to our regular bee sessions at 2pm on Wednesdays meeting at the Conservation Hub to learn about the amazing world of bees – all are always very welcome to join us by getting in touch on 07825212816.  

A couple of the main FHT happenings this season have included much work restoring the Shepherd’s Hut so that it can be used for accommodation for an apprentice for Kajedo our Land Manager.  Recycling the old office has taken time and skill but with the help of longtime volunteer George Paul and the return of visiting Spanish handyman Louis and his wife Tigga we managed to get it completed and moved onto a site sheltered in the firebreak up by the Green Burial ground with our tractor before the May Day celebration.  Part of the celebration involved a blessing of the hut with a surprise appearance in dressing gown and slippers +  violin of Sarah Perricone, our winner of the Woodland Orchestra evening raffle earlier in the year – she won the first three nights in the hut and it is now looking cosy and snug complete with wood stove for her. Do have a look at visiting academic Linde de Vroey’s article about the beltane blessing and maypole dancing part of the celebration written up elsewhere in this newsletter.

In February there was another storm with further damage to the woodland especially around the SW corner of Wilkies Wood near to the Woodside housing cluster.  Felling and clearance of blown trees was aided  by final year forestry student Cameron Henry offering his tree climbing and surgery experience.  New deciduous trees and shrubs have now been planted to bring more colour and biodiversity to the cleared area with East Whins resident Rodney Knights volunteering to take care of any watering  needed over the summer dry spell – thank you Cameron, Rodney and also Kajedo our Land Manager for all the work done in this area. We carry on with the tradition of turning what may seem like disasters to start with into creative opportunities to care for the land and bring people together to create a sense of community in the process.

The large redwood tree that stood outside Caledonia near the Phoenix Cafe was also felled before the storm and this wood and that of a couple of other sizeable trees were lifted by Greenleaf’s forklift machine on to the FHT’s tractor to be stored for milling and eventual use on the new sanctuary build.  Thank you Jason and Rhuaridh of Greenleaf for your help with this.  

Our regular work parties have been well attended with a Woodland Garden spring clean up event, led by FHT garden focaliser  Draeyk van der Horn, taking place in March and work up at our apiary at the end of April.  Part of the latter event involved fixing the roof of our bee shed using offcut pieces of roofing recycled from Greenleaf construction projects in North Whins – this was the fourth repair to the roof and we trust it will be the final one!  Thanks Spencer Julien for taking on the vital role of being our new work party tea provider at these events and for his write up and photos he provided for the bee work party article found elsewhere in this newsletter.  Thanks also goes to Louise Barnett who had the tea making role before Spencer for her valued contribution during her time living in the area – she has now left Moray but continues as a FHT member. Do remember that Draeyk welcomes people to join in the regular sessions from 9am on Saturdays In the Woodland Garden and likewise meeting Kajedo at the Hub 9am Wednesdays for sessions learning from and helping look after the land  

The repair of the bee shed also inspired George Paul, Frank van Beunigen and I to recycle some of the wood reclaimed from the sanctuary building demolishing with some further recycled metal roofing from Greenleaf to make a more permanent roof to the wood store at the back of the Conservation Hub.  We worked hard at this as well as having lots of fun in the process with great results.  One of the most satisfying parts of this project was delivering it on time and on budget, the budget being £0! – it feels great to be able to recycle and reuse materials to create useful and needed structures together. 

Planning for this summer’s events on the land has also been taking place with a number of workshops and educational offerings, celebrations and other happenings coming up – do check out the calendar of events posted elsewhere.  There will be celebration events including a Summer Solstice gathering again based in the large marquee on the green burial ground with the prospect of an outdoor ceilidh, fire and food. We have also decided to try something new in offering a number of educational day events including one on biodiversity that will be held by Alan Watson Featherstone and lichen enthusiast Heather Paul ( and another by Kajedo Wanderer (20 May and 22 September) titled Sacred Ways.  We are also delighted to have educational expert Roy Simpson delivering a day of training on Sharing Nature with Children (24th June) an approach developed by Joseph Cornell in the US that I have used very successfully as a parent and teacher for almost 50 years.  Kajedo is also putting on another opportunity to join in a week-long retreat (22-28 July) on the land-  do explore what is available and come along to these amazing offerings that are available on our doorstep.

On the personnel front, Vivienne Wylde has now permanently taken on the Membership Secretary role from Arun who will be staying on as a FHT Trustee.  Our only paid employee continues to be Kajedo Wanderer in his vital part time Land Manager role with others being paid for various services – Christopher Raymont as bookkeeper, Fiona McKenzie as Minutes Secretary, Birgit Carow who does a great job with producing posters and material for marketing and a small stipend to Jacqueline Buckingham for making sure this newsletter comes out regularly.  Behind these people there are all of you that contribute in so many voluntary ways to help look after the land and make this venture a success.  A huge thank you to all as the FHT goes from strength to strength.

Enjoy the summer on the land – I will as well as being off sailing again for the month of July visiting other amazing  places around the Scottish seas and coming back refreshed.

Blessings to All,

Jonathan Caddy

Posted in News

Findhorn Fledglings – May 2023

By Christine Lines | Published: 27/05/2023

It’s another Friday, 10am and all appears peaceful in the Findhorn Hinterland. Indeed, it is. Birdsong near and far. The subtle scurry of wildlife. Maybe the distant roar of a chainsaw too! Nevertheless something else pierces the forest sounds. Laughter. The pitta patta of tiny feet. Miniature work-men and work-women in self-led pre-training. The familiar cries of hide-and-seek we all know and love from days past. But what is this? The joyful blend of childlike utterings becoming closer and nearer as we move deeper and deeper into the forest…? Well, we eventually stumble upon the Findhorn Fledglings group. What a beautiful discovery! 

The Findhorn Fledglings are a loose mix of children and parents, many living in the Park or connected through the New Findhorn Association (NFA), that meet every Friday morning between 10am-12pm, come rain, shine, snow or storm. We have been meeting now for over 2 years in an informal ‘forest school’ format, as a way to bring children and parents together in connection and wholesome, nature-based activity. We gather at the firepit just beyond the Green Burial ground, always have a fire burning, and share stories, games, activities, play and conversation. 

The group size varies each week between, say, six children and parents in the depths of winter, to tens of us in the highest days of summer and school holidays. Children generally tend to be preschool age, between months old and 6/7 years. It’s beautiful to watch the children flourish in the natural environment of the wild forest, learning from each other, playing harmoniously (or perhaps not!), collecting firewood, listening intently to Peter Findley’s storytelling, and imaginatively interacting with the forest’s being.

The space is open for anyone to join, and for new parents especially the group acts as a natural segway into connecting with other community families in the Park and nearby. Parental socialising aside, the group also clearly acts as a way for the children to step into themselves as tiny budding beings, in a safe and supportive atmosphere that we are so very privileged to have on our doorstep. 

I can speak on behalf of all the parents and children when I say we deeply appreciate the Findhorn Hinterland Trust blessing our group to meet and wonder over the past years in this sacred corner of the forest they so dearly care for. Thank you. 

Contributed by Tom Feeney, proud parent, community member and Findhorn Fledging group member


Posted in News

May Day Celebration in the Findhorn Hinterland

By Christine Lines | Published: 27/05/2023

by Linde de Vroey

On the first of May, I had the chance to join the Findhorn community when they came together at the Ceremonial Burial Ground in Wilkies Wood to celebrate May Day. I was immediately struck by the brightness of all the colors: the beautiful yellow, white and pink flowers in the crowns, the dark green and gold embroidery of the ceremonial costume, the bright green color of the grass, and the May pole with shiny ribbons in every color of the rainbow. Though the weather wasn’t as bright as the flowers, the people who joined surely were, and there was a happy atmosphere in the air. After all, we were here to celebrate spring! 

We started the day by weaving crowns of willow, ivy, flowers and ribbons – a truly enjoyable and creative activity, and of course everyone needed to look their best for the actual celebration. When all the children (and lots of adults) had their crowns ready, we gathered together in a circle for the ceremony. Draeyk guided us all in a beautiful moment of reflection, to thank the land and wish for peace. And then it was time for the highlight of the day: the dance around the MayPole! I had never seen a May day dance before, and I was mesmerized by all those beautiful ribbons almost magically weaving a pattern together, just as a result of the dancing. As I stood there, singing and clapping and watching, I found it truly beautiful to see this age-old dance re-enacted; not as some old relic of the past, but as a very living moment – and  as a lot of fun too! It reminded me of something I read by the Potawatomi writer Robin Wall Kimmerer, about the importance of sustaining ceremony as a community: 

“Ceremony focuses attention so that attention becomes intention. If you stand together and profess a thing before your community, it holds you accountable. Ceremonies transcend the boundaries of the individual and resonate beyond the human realm. These acts of reverence are powerfully pragmatic. These are ceremonies that magnify life.”

On May Day in Findhorn, I could see these acts in action. By honoring tradition, we honor the history of a place, the people and beings who came before us and who cared for this land, so that we could now make a living here. By giving thanks to the land, we sustain our relationship to the land. By dancing together, we weave a community with the people and the place and all beings that live here. But the truly wonderful thing is that by celebrating together, caring together, dancing together, we don’t even have to think about it. We live it.

About the Author:
I am a philosopher and a PhD researcher at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. My research focuses on the intersection between ecological restoration, rewilding and cultural heritage. I am very interested in place-based and community-guided approaches to restoration; and in the role that cultural tradition, stories, language, ceremony and history can play in restoring the relationship between people and the natural landscape. I first came to the Park Ecovillage, Findhorn last April in light of my research project. There I encountered a unique place where the community has carried out pioneering and inspiring work, not only restoring the land, but also restoring and sustaining an intimate relationship between the community and the land. 

Posted in News

Findhorn’s special moth

By Christine Lines | Published: 27/05/2023

Findhorn dunes are widely recognised for their unique habitat and specialist biodiversity, particularly their lichen assemblages. However, what is less widely known is the importance of the dunes for moths. Many scarce duneland specialist species make Findhorn their home, such as the Lyme Grass moth Longalatedes elymi, the Coast Dart Euxoa cursoria, or the enigmatic and beautiful Portland Moth Actebia praecox. However, there is one species for which Findhorn is far more important.

Scythris empetrella is a small (4-5mm long) moth in the Scythrididae family. At first glance it appears unremarkable, and may not be recognised as a moth due to its lack of willingness to fly – the adults prefer to make short jumping flights off of the sand almost akin to the motion of a sandhopper. However, on closer inspection the moth reveals itself to be an attractive charcoal grey with a variable degree of whitish irroration (figure 1).

Figure 1 – Adults of Scythris empetrella from Findhorn Dunes, 28th June 2022. This figure gives a sense of variation in the markings of the adult moths. Note images not to scale.

In Scotland, Scythris empetrella is only found at two sites: Findhorn Dunes, and Cuthill Links on the Dornoch Firth. The moth is abundant at Findhorn but has only been found once at Cuthill, making Findhorn the most important site for this species in Scotland. Outside of Scotland the moth is found at a handful of sites in the New Forest and on the Dorset heaths in England, and globally is confined to sand dunes and similarly sandy habitats along the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas.

What makes Findhorn so special for this species is unknown, but it might have something to do with the feeding habits of its caterpillar. The caterpillar eats Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum) and Heathers (Erica and Calluna), feeding from within a sand-covered tube of silk which extends from within the sand up to the green leaves of its foodplant. This tube no doubt conceals the caterpillar from predators, but also probably acts as a conduit along which the caterpillar can move at great speed backwards or forwards to escape danger.

Figure 2 – Scythris empetrella habitat, Findhorn Dunes 28th June 2022. The left-hand image shows the site where most adults were found, amongst loose wind-blown sand and heather. The right-hand image shows another site where I found adults, but never in such densities as observed at the previous site.

At Findhorn the adult moths are most abundant in parts of the dunes where green heather stems poke through loose, wind-blown sand (figure 2, left). One can also find them further back from the coastline on wind-sculpted heather hummocks (figure 2, right) but in much lower densities. I would speculate that the swamping of heather and crowberry stems by wind-blown sand allows the caterpillar to access green growth otherwise inaccessible when the plants grow high above the sand. Findhorn is relatively unique amongst the Moray dune systems for having good quantities of heather and mobile sand, which might explain the dunes’ importance for this species.

That said, the moth is easily overlooked and it is very plausible that it may be lurking in other sandy habitats along the Moray Firth. I have failed to find it on the Culbin Bar, but one good place to search for it may be in open parts of Culbin forest where heather grows on loose sand. If anyone spots the moth, or sandy tubes on the heather anywhere along the Moray Firth this summer, I’d ask them to please email me at [email protected] with a date on which the tubes or moth were seen, a six-figure grid reference, and a photograph. 

I would like to thank Jonathan Caddy for the invitation to write a piece on this moth, and Fay Wilkinson for providing details on the Cuthill record for this species.

James Hammond

Department of Biology, University of Oxford. The John Krebs Field Station, Wytham, Oxford OX2 8QJ

Email: [email protected]

About the Author:
James grew up in the Findhorn area and attended the Drumduan Steiner School for a time before his present work as a biologist based at the University of Oxford. At present he is volunteering for the Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) Project, which aims to sequence the genome of every eukaryotic organism in the British Isles. His role involves collecting and identifying moth specimens, and then passing them on to the sequencing team who generate the data. The project is non-commercial, and all data is publicly available.

Posted in News

News from the land – Spring 2023

By Kajedo Wanderer | Published: 27/05/2023

‘Behold my brother and sisters, the spring has come,

The earth has received the embraces of the sun

And we shall soon see the results of that love !’

(Sitting Bull)

Finally the cold days seem to be over! (Though the gardeners in our nearby town religiously refuse to plant their flowers until the 21st of May).

Most trees are now clothed in fresh green leaves – only the oaks are still a bit reluctant. There is an abundance of colour painted into that radiant green background – flowers and blossoms everywhere!  Spring is finally really here! (Though mind you – this is the North of Scotland and we did have snow in June before…)

Beyond the Park and Wilkie’s Woods an ocean of yellow gorse flowers stretches almost to the sea – fragrant of coconut in the sunshine.

The birds are busy building their nests and the other day I saw the first bat of the season, as well as my first two hedgehogs here in ages.

The warmer weather and longer days also draws people out onto the land.

Beltane has passed with many different celebrations in different locations around the Park. And our shelter site with its fireplaces has been busy with many  happy and colourful gatherings. Draeyk in full druidic regalia was guiding around 60 community folk (plus kids and dogs) through a joyful celtic Maypole ceremony – despite it having been a rather cold day.

Beautiful decked out women gathered for a ‘Red Tent’ event, and there is no shortage of bookings of our facilities for the next weeks and months.

Workwise – our new shepherd’s hut has been put into its location near the Green Burial Ground – just waiting for a committed volunteer or apprentice to move into that cosy wee space. (‘Build it – and they will come’ – from the movie ‘Field of dreams’ with Kevin Costner).

We have put a fresh layer of wood chips on our camping pads to welcome this season’s wild campers.

The gorse and grass on firebreaks and paths has been cut back with the topper, now it’s been weeks of following up with the brushcutter. The annual cycle of maintaining what we have created…

Wee trees which were planted last year are beginning to grow out of their little spiral tubes and need to be put into bigger tubes to keep the deer from eating them.

It feels like a busy time of the year – with everything bursting forth with life.

And yet – 

‘…once in spring

I with god

Had a quiet talk.’ (Shuntaro Tanikawa)

It’s when we pause to feel, look and listen, when we close our eyes to smell the sweetness of the air – the different scents at different times of the day –  when we stand still in the midst of all that bursting forth – and consciously open ourselves to the presence of the divine within it all – it is then that it will find its way into our hearts and make us flower wildly & quietly from within – and truly make us part of the celebration of life that is ‘spring’.

Enjoy…

Kajedo, 

Findhorn, May 2023

 

 

Posted in News

Greetings from the pony field!

By Christine Lines | Published: 27/05/2023

With April came spring, the most significant change of season in the pony year: the first spring grass, the end of winter grazing, and a tide of hair flooding out from the field as the woolly winter coat comes off and is replaced by the sleeker and sometimes darker summer coat (prime nest building material!)

We had a successful six months of landscape management grazing, mostly around the middle wind turbine and opposite the South turbine. The South turbine field was upgraded last autumn with a permanent fence and served us well especially in the two winter weeks when the pony field became too dangerous with snow and ice for both ponies and humans. One very icy morning I didn’t even dare to go into the field but just opened the gate and let the ponies find their own way out, placing every hoof very slowly and carefully, and over to the winter grazing field. I’m glad to say we made it through all the winter weathers with no injuries. Another upgrade that made the winter much easier for humans is the fabulous new hay shed: no more blown off tarpaulins, no more puddles on the haystack, and dry tea breaks too. A big thank you to Jonathan and team!

Freshly green and full of sugar, spring grass is wonderful, very welcome – and can be too much. Ponies have sensitive digestive systems and any change can upset them. Not all breeds can handle sugar: little dark Milo’s Shetland genes mean that sugar can trigger laminitis, a very painful inflammation of the feet. He already stopped winter grazing in March, and by the time this newsletter comes out he will have started to spend mornings (when the grass has the highest sugar content) in his pen to keep him healthy. He is not being starved and neglected but on a carefully monitored diet, and please don’t throw grass and other treats over the fence for him! 

With the spring weather we enjoy going for walks, a great non-riding way of spending time together. You might meet any combination of ponies and humans on the path around the dunes, building up fitness and training. Jock the Appaloosa cob with the dark spots and I will often look like we’re just pottering about or standing in the sun, when what we really do is intensive training in staying calm, focused and confident in the middle of so many distractions both scary and wonderful. After two years on the Hinterland we’re both doing very well and handle dogs, bikes, chain saws and mysterious bright objects like old pros.

Another question we get now that winter is over is: Can we get manure from you?
Yes you can!
Call Kathryn Kusa on 01309 690712 to find out how it works and when you can come, since one of us needs to be there to let you in and show you where to go.

Katharina Kroeber for the pony team

Posted in News

Hinterland Biodiversity – Spiders on the Land

By Alan Watson Featherstone | Published: 19/02/2023

As part of the Findhorn Hinterland Trust’s work to identify the biological diversity that occurs on the 35 hectares of land that we are responsible for managing, I commissioned a spider survey of the site, which took place between the end of April 2019 and the end of August 2022. The survey was carried out using a series of pitfall traps, with two traps being placed at each of 6 sites that were distributed in the various different habitats on the land. I serviced the traps at the end of each month and sent the catches to Edward Milner, a spider expert who very kindly offered to identify the specimens for us. These regular monthly samples were supplemented by occasional individual spiders that I came across and photographed whilst out walking in the Hinterland area.

Female spider (Philodromus aureolus) on the flower of a foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) on the Findhorn Hinterland, 1st July 2021.

By the end of October last year, the survey and individual sightings had produced a list with a total of 116 spider species that have been identified on the land we manage. This is quite an impressive range of species, and for the 35 hectares of land it is equivalent to 3.31 species per hectare. By chance, I came across a post on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ecology_digest/status/1586834785233682436) at the end of October which provided some details of the number of spider species that have been found in urban areas of Yorkshire in England. There, they identified 294 species of spiders in a total of 2,500 square kilometres (which is 250,000 hectares). That is equivalent to 0.001 species of spider per hectare – several orders of magnitude less than what we have here at the Findhorn Hinterland.    

Tiny orange-red female spider (Oonops pulcher) found under the bark of a standing dead Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) on the Findhorn Hinterland, 28th February 2022.

It can be argued that this comparison is not a fair one, as urban areas do not provide such a good variety of habitats as the more natural landscapes that we have here do. While there is obviously some truth in that, it’s also true that Yorkshire is further south than Findhorn and therefore has a milder climate and so might be expected to support a greater range of species than we have here in the north. What these figures do show though is that here, in our 35 hectares (about 1/7000th of the area of the urban sites in Yorkshire) we have over one third of the species of spiders that they have!

Male garden spider (Araneus diadematus) on a creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense), Findhorn Hinterland, 25th July 2019.

Most of the spiders we have found on the Hinterland are common species, but one in particular was significant. On 9th September 2021 I photographed a crab spider here which was identified as the species, Philodromus praedatus, and this was the first record for this spider north of the Cairngorms in Scotland. Two other notable species found during our survey here are a northern species, Zora nemoralis, which is Nationally Rare, and a wolf spider (Pardosa agrestis), which is Nationally Scarce.

Ball of spiderlings of the common garden spider (Araneus diadematus) on the twig of a hawthorn tree (Crataegus monogyna), with my finger for scale, Findhorn Hinterland, 3rd June 2022.

There are almost certainly more spider species still to be identified on the Hinterland. Pitfall traps, by their very nature, catch spiders that are moving around on the ground. However, many spiders are more arboreal in their lifestyle and seldom go down to the ground, so generally don’t appear in trap catches. Most of the species that I’ve found on the site, and which haven’t appeared in the trap catches, fall into this category. Edward Milner tells me that he has been running a series of spider pitfall traps at a site in London for over 12 years, and is still finding new species when he services them. It seems very likely we’d have the same experience here, so at some stage in the years ahead we may reinstate the traps. In the meantime, I’ll continue to document the spiders that I find by personal observation whilst out on the land.

Alan Watson Featherstone

FHT Trustee & Chair of the Land Management subgroup

Sputnik spider (Paidiscura pallens) & its egg sac on the underside of an oak leaf (Quercus robur) on the Findhorn Hinterland, 1st August 2022.

Female wolf spider (Arctosa perita), Findhorn Hinterland, 1st July 2019.

Posted in News

Annual Cycle of Events including Planned Work Parties

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 19/02/2023

Feb 2023 – Feb 2024 

Note: The work party focus may change due to different priorities arising, the weather and the people who turn up.  Newsletter distribution dates are indicative. Regular bee inspections from April to August– all welcome with protective equipment provided. 

Date  Event
28 Feb Brash Clearance and preparing ground in Woods- 9.30 to noon -KW
27 Feb Winter/Spring Newsletter
25 Mar Woodland Garden Spring Cleanup- 9.30 to noon – DH
12 April  Regular Bee Inspection cycle starts 2pm -4pm every Wednesday weather permitting meeting at the Conservation Hub
29 Apr Bee Equipment Work – 9.30 to noon -MH+JW
1 May May Day Celebratory Event
11 May Trustees Meeting – 8am -10am 
27 May Lichen Bed Work- 9.30 to noon – AW
27-28 May Nature and Therapy Workshop – Woodland Shelter use for weekend
29 May Spring/Summer Newsletter
7 June AGM 7.30pm Sunshine Room
17 June  Summer Solstice Celebration
19 June Forres Academy Biology Field Trip 
24 June Woodland Garden Summer Care- 9.30 to noon -DH
29 July Gorse Clearance and Path Maintenance- 9.30 to noon – KW
17 Aug Trustees Meeting – 8am -10am 
26 Aug Pony Shelter Building- 9.30 to noon – JC+GP
28 Aug Summer/Autumn Newsletter
August – end Regular Bee Inspection cycle ends
Sept Possible Woodland Festival?
30 Sept Lichen Bed Work- 9.30 to noon – JC or AW
28 Oct Woodland Garden Harvest and Bedding Down- 9.30 to noon
25 Nov  Northern Edge Tree Clearance- 9.30 to noon
27 Nov Autumn/Winter  Newsletter
2 Dec Christmas Tree Event 11am-2pm
24 Jan Gorse Clearance and Path Maintenance – 9.30 to noon
8 Feb Trustees Meeting – 8am -10am 

Jonathan Caddy

Updated 8th December 2022  

Posted in News

Preparing for the FHT 2023 Bee Season

By jonathan.caddy | Published: 19/02/2023

On the 24th of January the temperature was up at 11C in the middle of the day which got us thinking about the FHT Apiary and our bees so off went Martin and John to inspect followed by a meeting to scheme about the bee focused delights and opportunities that might be available to us and other people in the local area during the coming year.

At present we have eleven hives  and all were found to be alive and active.  A few are fairly small colonies but we are very keen to see if we can get them through the winter.  We would like to maintain ten strong hives here in our apiary that will produce more local honey which is always in demand and also provide educational opportunities for young and old to explore the fascinating world of bees.   John Willoner, Martin Harker and I have for a number of years held  the focus for the FHT bees.  We are a great team but are always on the lookout for others that might enjoy helping to share the load and the fun, now and into the future.

This year we plan to start our regular weekly inspections after Easter on Wednesday 12th April from 2pm to 4pm and every Wednesday thereafter weather permitting, possibly changing it to later in the day as the season progresses so more folks may be able to join us.  Let us know if you might be interested in this.

Two other events you might be interested in are the FHT work party 9.30am – noon on the 29th April which will focus on our bees including giving more people the chance to look into our hives and the idea of an educational day or even weekend later in the summer to learn still more.  Again let us know if you are interested in either of these two offerings or have particular requests or ideas.

The FHT bee team will also continue to take part in the national honey survey which uses the DNA from honey samples to monitor changes in the environment and levels of pollution – since bees collect nectar from a three mile radius they sample over thirty square miles of land which contributes invaluable information regarding the state of our local and national environment  

Looking forward to the buzz of spring and summer and hoping you can join us for a fascinating and rewarding year getting to know our local bees and your friendly and knowledgeable beekeepers.

Please contact me at [email protected] or on 07825 212816 if interested in getting involved in any of these activities or for more information – we would love to see you and encourage your interest.

Jonathan Caddy

For the FHT Bee Team

24th January 2023

Posted in News
Findhorn Hinterland Trust, Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) SC045806
228 Pineridge, Findhorn, Forres, Moray IV36 3TB