Group is buzzing after receiving top award
BURSCOUGH conservation group, the Tree Bee Society has been awarded for its efforts at The Bees’ Needs Champions Awards.
The awards were arranged by Defra (Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs) and hosted at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Following on from its work this summer, removing both bumble and honey bee colonies from properties all over the UK and working on pollinator stations in Burscough, the local beekeeping group was nominated by Grow Wild, the UK’s biggest wildflower campaign.
Upon winning the award in the category of “Providing food and a home for pollinators”, director Abigail Reade said: “It’s fantastic to be recognised for the hard work we put in throughout the summers, removing and rescuing bees back to our field in Burscough and providing pollinator stations, where members of the public can enjoy our local pollinators.”
In August, the team removed more than 110,000 bees from a hospital, after wax and honey started dripping down the walls.
The bees were found and the specialist non-for-profit Tree Bee Society paid two visits to the hospital to remove the hives.
The first hive, consisting of an estimated 70,000 bees, was safely removed from the elderly care assessment unit.
Abigail Reade, one of the specialist beekeepers said a normal colony consists of around 50,000 bees, but this one had got so large because it had been there for about five years.
She said: “Bee hives are limited in their space, but as the roof is so big, there wasn’t really a limit this time, which is why it had grown. “If it was left even longer, it could have become astronomical.”
The team used tarpaulins and towels to catch the honey that had gathered on the walls at the Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff.
The Tree Bee Society also uses the beeswax and honey from its bees to create natural, handmade cosmetics, such as hand creams, soaps, lip balms and even hair care products.
To support it in its conservation work, or to see how you can help save the bees, go to the website www.treebee.org.uk.
ABIGAIL READE