To quote Jean Luc Picard...

"We have engaged the wasps!"
Todays inspections , on my return from holiday, were dictated by my earlier concerns. The weather for August looks to be cool and damp (even though we had a reasonable weather on the South coast last week). There appears to have been little income for the bees, indeed stores look slightly diminished, though all seem to have some stores for now.
Any colony with wasps hovering around the entrance (and a few with wasps found within the hive!) had their entrance reduced so as the bees can defend it better. I had already deployed some wasp traps but more will be made this week.