Bees are brilliant!
Honey Bees at Running Deer School!
In the spring we sowed wild flower and grass seeds across prepared fields on one of our sites. Our plan is to turn our fields that have been cut for hay, and heavily grazed by sheep for nearly 2 decades, into wild flower meadows, grazed by our heavy horses, but allowing the fields to rest and regenerate as well.
The late spring delayed the germination of some of our wild flowers and grasses but we have been pleasantly surprised at the number of species we have seen in the fields this year. The introduction of the wild flowers and grasses that are native to the area, are helping to improve biodiversity and support for our wildlife.
Bees are a buzzing...
We recently introduced some honey bees to the site, something we have wanted to do for some time. We felt that our Butterdon site was too cold for the bees, but our meadows are more sheltered, sunnier, and offer the perfect place to support the bees.
We chose to use a top bar hive which is geared towards the bees, (rather than necessarily producing honey for humans). The top bar encourages the bees to build their comb down from these bars naturally without the use of a frame, or foundation.
We were very lucky to find a swarm of Italian Honey Bees (Apis mellifera ligustic) to introduce to our hive, and they are the most laid back colony you could ever want to meet!
The bees have been building the colony and regular inspections have seen their beautiful white comb quickly growing in the top bar hive. Its impressive to see!
Volunteers built a hurdle fence around the hive to protect it from the wind, and students from the school have been checking in on the bees regularly, with staff making sure everything is ok during the summer holidays.
We hope to expand our bee keeping and introduce more hives in the future - so if anyone would like to donate (doesn’t have to be a top bar) please get in touch!
