Honey bee decline: Hive got a story that's the bee's knees

By Jenny Cornish

Published on Fri Aug 27 13:28:59 BST 2010

Ramsey WI, doing their bit to try and halt the rapid decline of bees in this country, have bought a hive which, thanks to its inhabitants, is now producing honey.

BEES in the UK are in trouble, with numbers declining at around 30 per cent a year – but a group of women in Ramsey are doing their bit to protect them.

Ramsey WI has raised money to buy a hive and equipment and now has thousands of bees producing honey.

The women decided to help the plight of the honey bee after the WI passed a national resolution calling for more research funding.

Hilary Tough (Pictured Left), a member of Ramsey WI, volunteered to be the group's beekeeper, and was sent on a course run by Huntingdonshire Beekeepers Association.

The group bought a hive in April this year and the following month was given a swarm by the association.

Hilary (59) said: "They were looking for a volunteer and it's something my husband and I had been interested in anyway.

"We've got the space for it and we've got a good location for pollination with lots of trees and we thought it would be a good place for them to forage."

Opening up a hive full of thousands and thousands of bees sounds a bit nerve-racking, but Hilary says she wasn't too worried.

"You have to get all the equipment, so you get your hat and veil, bee-suit and Wellingtons – nothing can get in," she said.

"You're completely covered. Some of the older chaps who keep bees go down with their cap and pipe and no bee-suit, but we're not experienced beekeepers."

The swarm was provided free by the Huntingdonshire Beekeepers Association.

"We got a call one Saturday morning saying there was a swarm in Hinchingbrooke Park and there was a wedding so they needed to get rid of it," said Hilary. "They collected it in a cardboard box and brought it to us."

She says the experience has been incredible. "It's amazing. We're learning things all the time," she said.

"We've just taken off the first lot of honey. We were just blown away because we couldn't believe they'd done it so quickly. We were lucky in that we had a very big healthy swarm and they got working straightaway. We didn't imagine we would get honey in the first year."

Hilary says the honey is fantastic – even more so because they know where it's come from.

"Because it's ours, we think it's wonderful," she said. "I don't know how it would stack up in a honey show. But it's dark amber, clear and it's delicious."

The swarm started off at about 10,000 bees and there are now around 40,000 to 50,000 living in the hive at the bottom of Hilary's garden.

"I would recommend it to other people – it's very interesting and very rewarding," she said. "It's very good for the environment.

"You do have to be prepared to spend a little bit – there's a lot of equipment to be purchased, and you have to feed them through the winter."

However, Hilary says her and her husband, Alan, don't need to spend huge amounts of time looking after the bees.

"In the summer, if you've got one hive, you probably need to spend about one hour a week looking after them," she said.

"You have to go in every week to make sure the queen is still there and healthy and you have to keep an eye on what they're doing. We have to monitor for mites as well. It's just checking that they're doing what they should be and that there's nothing wrong in the hive.

"It's a bit more work when you're processing the honey – that took us all day. It's a bit less in the winter because they just close down then."

Ramsey WI President Diana Hyde said: "My members were very keen to help with the fund-raising for this project and as WI cakes are always popular we decided this would be the best way to raise the money.

"The honey has been taken and processed into 15 jars to be offered to 15 lucky members at our September meeting.

"The remaining honey will be left for the bees who will be supplemented through the autumn and winter with syrup feeds. They are also being treated against the dreaded varroa mite. We want the healthiest, happiest bees we can get for next year's flow, which we hope will be even greater.

"We are very impressed at how speedily our bees were able to produce and would urge other WIs to consider this exciting activity. We learn something every month via regular reports about these fascinating creatures."

Find out more about the WI campaign, go to www.thewi.org.uk.