Walk a candidate UK apiary site across a valley-to-hilltop slope. Move it up out of the frost pocket, closer to seasonal forage, and see frost risk, forage score and an overall site score respond in real time.
How it works ▾
Cold air is denser than warm air and drains downhill overnight, pooling in low ground the way a liquid would. Frost risk rises steeply as the marker drops toward the valley floor, and a windbreak trims a fixed share of that risk by cutting the wind-driven chill that deepens it:
frost = clamp(58 − elevation×0.55, 0, 100) × (windbreak ? 0.8 : 1)
Forage score sums inverse-distance contributions from three seasonal sources — spring hedgerow blossom, a summer garden/bramble patch, and autumn ivy — plus a small constant clover baseline, so a site only scores well if something is actually in flower nearby this season:
forage = Σ weight × max(0, 1 − distance / 9m) (only active-season sources count)
Water access uses the same inverse-distance falloff against a fixed pond. The overall site score blends all three, weighted the way an experienced site-walk would:
score = 0.4×forage + 0.3×(100−frost) + 0.3×water
- Elevation — drag out of the blue-tinted frost pocket toward the hilltop.
- Ridge position — moves the site nearer or further from the active forage patch and the pond.
- Season — swaps which forage source (if any) is actually flowering.
- Windbreak — a hedge on the windward side trims frost and wind exposure.