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Author Topic: Flying Distances around my hives  (Read 7319 times)

Offline asleitch

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Flying Distances around my hives
« on: July 07, 2004, 09:50:05 am »
I was worried about how much forage my bees would have, as I am using an out-apiary. In the end, I used the internet to solve my worries. Every square inch of the UK has been digitally photographed, from the air, at various different levels of zoom. You can get low resolution copies off the internet, and I "stitched" seveal together to give me a large aerial photo. I then marked on several circles to indicate 1 miles, 2miles, and 3 miles, and also dotted lines to indicate "half miles". I was amazed to find that their flying distances covered a small town, and all those lovely gardens and flowers! I'd never sat down and thought about it but it was obvious from studying the map, I'd just never realised how close it was.


The photos are visible from www.multimap.com, but the aerial shots are only available for UK places, as it is only the UK that has been mapped.

if you use the UK version of Multimap.com

you can convert from "map" to "aerial photo"

e.g.

http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=535000&Y=115000&scale=100000&width=700&height=400&gride=&gridn=&lang=&db=GB

my hives are just to the left of the wood.

http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=534210&Y=116854

Adam

Offline Finman

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Re: Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2004, 10:10:52 am »
Quote from: asleitch
I was worried about how much forage my bees would have, as I am using an out-apiary.


I am not worried any more. I scattered my hives last weekend out.  I put 4-5 hives per spot. In every spot there are over 20 hechares turnip rape. It started just blooming. After one week fire flowers start to bloom. They are best plants in nature.

It is also important, that there are no other bees diviging the yield. Now i have 18 hives in 4 spots.  The farest is at  25 km away from my summer cottage. After two weeks turnip rape start to bloom near my cottage. I return a part of bees to my cottage yard.

Our yield season is only July, one month long. In August nature starts to prepare itself for winter and stops blooming.  

Heather is the last real honey plant. We have awfully lot of heather but it gives honey guite seldom.

Offline Lesli

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Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2004, 10:19:30 am »
My own "apiary," if two hives can be called such, is on my land, about 5 acres of which is grass/pasture, and another 5 forested (lots of maple ande sumac).

Next to my property is about 30+ acres of pasture which is mowed twice a year. Used to be a dairy farm, but the farmer retired, so my girls get those fields and forest to themselves.

Across the way is a feed corn field. Do bees like corn pollen? If so, they're in for a treat in a few weeks...

Since this is primarily a dairy area, the only sizable crops are feed corn and hay, neither of which I imagine is sprayed for "pests."
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Lesli

Offline Beth Kirkley

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Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2004, 10:41:06 am »
I'm really amazed at these maps. Fantastic stuff! I'm speechless.

Beth

Offline asleitch

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Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2004, 11:24:48 am »
Do you not have a similar thing in the US? Has someone not photographed the entire country? If by nothing else than sattelite? The photos are an excellent resource, and very interesting, I'm sure the US must have something similar? For a high resolution image, you have to pay £30 ($45)? but the low res are fine, and as you can see, provided all the information I needed.

Adam

Offline lobstafari

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Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2004, 12:14:03 pm »
I found this a few years back, which includes topographic maps and actual photos you can zoom in/out.  Kinda neat to check out the arial picture of your place!!!
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com

Offline asleitch

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Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2004, 12:17:19 pm »
Quote from: lobstafari
I found this a few years back, which includes topographic maps and actual photos you can zoom in/out.  Kinda neat to check out the arial picture of your place!!!
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com


That would seem to work, like I said, I'd just never sat down and put a pin in a map, and with a pair of compasses, marked how far the area is the bees fly, being a computer-nerd, I decided to do this with a digital-photo and some photo-editing software, but the results are the same. I'm still amazed each time I look at the map, just how wrong all my ideas about where the bees would be foraging are! I thought that town was 3 miles away, not less than 1!

Adam

Offline lobstafari

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Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2004, 12:24:24 pm »
I agree with you there.  My bees are NEVER in our yard, although woodsy, full of clover, apple trees, wifes perrenials, liliacs, etc, and not at the apple orchard a mile away, or the goldenrod field 1/4 mi. away, but at a commercial herb farm almost 4 miles away!!  They dont build up honey very fast, but seem happy and thriving....certainly frustrating to the beekeeper!!
  Also, they dont use the birdbaths too often which I put right in front of their hives for drinking, but a stream about 1/4 mile down through the woods.  WEIRD!!  :?

Offline buzz

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Flying Distances around my hives
« Reply #8 on: July 07, 2004, 12:33:39 pm »
WOW!!! That's great! Maybe when I get some time, I'll do the same thing for here. I wish we could get them in color. :twisted:
Scott
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Offline Saucy

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Distance from hive
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2004, 03:48:55 am »
That is fascinating - where about are you in the UK? I am going to look for the maps now. I am actually in Hertfordshire

Offline asleitch

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Re: Distance from hive
« Reply #10 on: July 08, 2004, 05:05:15 am »
Quote from: Saucy
That is fascinating - where about are you in the UK? I am going to look for the maps now. I am actually in Hertfordshire


Sussex, at the very bottom of the pictures, the fields change slightly, and that is the slopes of the south downs.

Adam

Offline asleitch

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Re: Distance from hive
« Reply #11 on: July 08, 2004, 05:05:56 am »
Quote from: Saucy
That is fascinating - where about are you in the UK? I am going to look for the maps now. I am actually in Hertfordshire


If you have major trouble, let me know, and I'll do my best to help.

Adam