On September 28th Rtn Michael Murphy, who is big in ecology at LHR, introduced our speaker Tom Law, who is Heathrow’s beekeeper. He looks after 24 beehives dotted around the fields and meadows which surround the airport. He estimates there are some 1.8 million bees which means that each hive is home to around 75000.
Bees are responsible for the pollination and therefore the survival of about 60% of all plants and most of the fruit and vegetables we eat. There is a decline in bee populations because of habitat loss, pesticide use and diseases. There is also a threat from large Asian hornets which can bite the heads off bees in flight.
Queen bees live about 5 years and only the queen can lay eggs, about 2000 per day. Worker bees keep the colony alive by collecting pollen but they only live about five weeks. Bees swarm when a colony splits and the break off group is looking for a new home.
Tom passed around samples of pure raw honey which he classified as a super food. This is much healthier than pasteurised commercial honey, which loses the healing properties, anti-viral and antifungal properties which are found in pure honey.
One can distinguish between a bee and a wasp by the way the wings beat. A bee’s wings droop at the sides whereas a wasp wings are outstretched.
Nick Teale
RCBB
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