Hampton Court Flower show was an early start, the journey slow, having found the park and ride scheme I arrived just before opening. I made my way to the Edible Garden exhibit sponsored by the RHS. The emphasis within this garden is on food from plants and highlights the need for pollination. The British Bee keeping Association in this garden have flying bees at the show for the first time. They would be giving demonstrations, going through the hive and answering questions, helping people to understand the honey bee. The public were able to view the hives from the safety of a breeze hut and enjoy bees in an observation hive. The people who visited the stand were really interested in bees, asking questions and enjoying the live bee demonstrations. The bees were enclosed within seven foot netting and able to fly up and out of the enclosure to forage. By 11am they were quite busy coming and going. The time went by quickly, my legs and voice were a little worse for wear towards the end of the shift. It was enjoyable to meet other bee keepers listen to them and watch them work the hive. The bees were well behaved.
I did wonder where the bees were foraging, later that afternoon I found lots of them in the middle of the show ground, working on a large patch of alums, beautiful blue onions flowers. They were in competition with the bumble bees.