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Logwoods Bloom Late

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Logwood Flower Buds

Logwood Flower Buds Hint of a February Nectar Flow

January (2014) so far has been fairly good with respect to rainfall.  Over 2 inches have been recorded here at Spring View.  The Logwood trees bloomed heavily in January and new flower buds are beginning to show on some trees.  If the rains continue, the main bloom will probably arrive in February.  Hopefully, the bees will be ready, having been roused from their dearth by January’s nectar flow.

The relatively wet conditions have resulted in a few trees blooming including Acacia, Joewood and some wild flowers.  There is not much nectar producers however.  As a consequence, everywhere looks green but not much food for bees and other  pollenators.  These are the conditions one would expect to see in October or November.  Those months were unusually dry in 2012 so now that the rains have come the conditions reflect the availability of water for the trees and shrubs and this translates into nectar for bees to make honey.

January – the month of wind and cold.

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To older Barbudan fishermen, January is a month that is not very friendly to people who work on the sea.  It is windy and the seas can transform from calm flatness to viscious ‘white cap’ waves in an instant.  The water is also cold and the ‘ground swells’ (storm waves) stir up the water reducing visibility to zero.  These conditions are driven by winter storms originating in the north Atlantic.  The waves generated there eventually reach our shores.

Inspite of the challenges created by these conditions, it is believed that this period marks a time when the sea ‘cleans itself’.  The bottom is churned up, debris is washed up onto the shorelines and dead algae is washed off the reefs.  There is some truth to this.  The churning do release stored nutrients and productivity does go up as evidenced  by the prolific growth of some algae, for example the ‘seamoss’ for which Barbuda used to be famous.