Regent Street in London is going to produce its own honey thanks to a hive containing more than 15,000 bees high above the shopping mass.The Crown Estate which owns Regent Street has already installed its first colony and is planning dozens more if the experiment is a success.
A special honey garden has been created on the rooftop with a mixture of lavender,thyme,sedums, salvia and verbena to add flavour to the honey. Beekeepers have also been tending the bees for several weeks feeding them on a sugar-syrup solution to build up the stregth of the workers.
Beekeeper assocations have reported record number of enquiries from people wishing to keep bees in their gardens. As a result a company called Omlet has begun selling a designer beehive aimed at the urban market.
http://www.omlet.co.uk/products_services/products_services.php?view=Bees&about=garden%20bees
This is great news for the bee population which has been hit hard in recent years by virulent viruses transferred by the varroa mite. Nearly all the colonies in the wild have died out and without beekeepers to care for them honey bees could vanish in a few years. Find out more about how to help the honey bees in your area by visiting:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/features/honeybees.pdf
London Beekeepers – http://www.lbka.org.uk/
Pollination is worth £190 million to the UK economy and bees account for 80% of all insect pollination.It is believed that colonies are under threat as a result of intensive, single crop farming using insecticides combined with the destruction of hedgerows.
Mon, Aug 31, 2009
Climate Change, UK Climate Change