Pollen in love with new home
It’s been a hive of activity at an Isle of Wight wastewater treatment, as more than 50,000 honeybees are being carefully relocated to more suitable surroundings.
50,000 bees to be re-homed on the Isle of Wight
It’s been a hive of activity at an Isle of Wight water supply works this month, as more than 50,000 honeybees are being carefully relocated to more suitable surroundings.
Our team at the Sandown site called for help after an enormous swarm of honeybees made their hive inside the wall of a site building.
Beekeeper Mark Gale, of Bee Tree Rescue in Surrey, answered the call to rehome the colony, travelling 100km to take on the job over the course three days.
Mark said:
“This was an unusual task in that we had to cut out the honeycombs and transfer them into an alternative hive to rehome them on the Island.
The honeybees soon regrow and re-glue their nest together. When the Queen bee starts laying eggs that is the sign that their new home was successfully repaired and breeding new honeybees is back on track.”
The honeybees are currently in a holding centre at a Tree Bee Rescue Apiary but are going to be relocated later in November to Ventnor Botanical Gardens, who have agreed to take them on so they can live out their time in on the Island.
Chris Weeks, Operational Manager at Southern Water added:
“The operational teams on site spotted the bees flying into a small hole in the side of the storeroom wall. Eventually the numbers increased into a motorway of bees flying in and out of their new nest, and the buzzing got a lot louder as the days and weeks went on.
"After a section of the wall was removed by local contractors, Mark found the queen bee and transferred her into the temporary hive, along with the honeycombs. The operation took around three days, starting on a Friday and finishing on the Sunday. It was great work by everyone involved in the safe removal of the bees.”