Winter is almost behind us, the Spring equinox approaches, and the extra hours of daylight quicken our pulses as we look forward to warmer days. March is a nervous month for beekeepers as we are close to being able to carry out gentle hive inspections and discovering quite how our bees have fared since we last saw them in autumn. If we are lucky we’ll have some balmy weather with ambient temperatures in the early teens, just enough to allow the bees to take cleansing flights and begin foraging for early pollen and nectar.  So why the nerves? It’s a bit like being an athlete on the starting line, waiting for the signal to go, or being an actor waiting to go on stage. We’re ready, we’ve made all the preparations, have all the equipment, now we just need to see the bees and assess the situation. Over the past few weeks we have been mending brood boxes, painting new crownboards, putting new foundation wax into frames, cleaning out smokers and sterilising hive