Except it isn’t.

Bees are not always kept in a town or village, are they? Many apiaries are on farms, hillsides, moor edges, coastal sites, woodland edges, valley bottoms or garden edges, sometimes quite some distance from the nearest named place.

I’d forgotton about that.

So, the Private Apiary module was born. And you get three of them, because I know what we beekeepers are like.

When should you create a private apiary?

Create a private apiary location if your bees are not actually in the settlement shown in the forecast, A private apiary gives Apiary Forecast a better local point for weather, elevation and local timing. In return you get better information.

What each setting does

There are three things to think about. 

Private apiary location
This is used for local weather accuracy. It helps the forecast use a point closer to where your bees actually are. N.B. We “fuzz” the location deliberately before saving it, so we never store the actual location. We “fuzz” it close enough to be useful for weather. That’s it.

As a bit of a dev note, this bit was the most problematic. Initially, this was you entering in the longitude and latitude. A little user unfriendly perhaps. But later, it grew into a map picking system. Much better. 

Forage profile
That’s taken care of now. All forage data is taken from the 3400+ flora records in Plant Atlas, which is then passed through our proprietary Bee Bible to ensure only bee forage is listed.

Circumstantial Boost setting

Plant Atlas data doesn’t include farm or managed crops. This is because there’s no relative permanence guaranteed. If you need that set, these are current options:

Choose the closest match, such as:

• Flowering oilseed rape
• Flowering field beans/faba beans
• Flowering borage/phacelia/buckwheat
• Flowering managed clover/legume
• Flowering orchard/fruit block
• Flower-rich sown margin/pollinator strip
• Additional large garden/allotment belt

If you have more than one, choose the most important. You can update it later. If your managed crop isn’t showing, paid members can suggest one for consideration.

Bear in mind that the primary purpose of Forage Outlook is to warn of potential dearth risk, not catalogue over-abundance.

How to create a private apiary

You can save up to three private apiary locations within your entitlement area.

To create one:

1. Open your forecast location or saved apiary settings.
2. Add a saved location name.
3. Place the map pin where your bees are kept, or enter latitude and longitude.
4. Choose the nearest supported settlement or local area if one fits.
5. Choose the forage profile that best matches the main forage around the apiary.
6. Choose the apiary setting that best describes the site.
7. Save the location.
8. Click Use this apiary to make the tools use it.

You can switch between saved locations whenever you need to.