Sweet and sour: heavy rain hits honey harvest

Denis Lehane learns from a beekeeper that the wet washes away nectar and prevents bees flying

IT WAS a summer most of us farmers want to forget. With such heavy rain, it was hard to do even mundane tasks. It’s not just farmers who suffered. Many have been predicting a disaster for Irish beekeepers, so I met with Aidan Duggan, from Dooniskey, near Lissarda in Co Cork.

Aidan has been keeping bees for years, and his artisan Dooniskey Honey is available in outlets such as O’Donovan’s, at Wilton Shopping Centre, in Cork.