By David Nesham
The Rodley Robins Club met at the Rodley Nature Reserve last Saturday for their annual beekeeping activity – only to find all the bees had disappeared.
The Reserve has successfully kept three active hives since the early 2000’s and as well as introducing children to beekeeping, has supplied honey for the Visitor Centre shop and it was a complete shock to find all the hives completely empty.
The Reserve had approximately 60,000 bees across the three hives but there was no sign of any alive or dead, no eggs, no larvae and no honey – all gone.
Resident beekeeper and member of Calverley Beekeepers, Paul Lawrence, said: “It is something known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which has been causing widespread colony losses and threatening the sustainability of beekeeping and our food supply. It’s a phenomenon where entire colonies of bees disappear or die off suddenly.”
CCD has been linked to various factors such as pesticides, climate change and varroa mites and Paul added: “I don’t think pesticides have played a part as it’s not used on the Reserve and I’ve taken swabs to test for the varroa and there are no signs of mite. Apparently CCD is a complex issue and there appears to be no known reason.”
Robins Club organiser Denese Swann said: “There were some very disappointed young children on Saturday but they were asked to come up with their own theories as to what might have happened and came up with several interesting suggestions that lightened the gloom – “they got bored and flew away; they were eaten by birds or rats or hornets; they’ve gone on holiday and taken all the honey; they were abducted by aliens; they were eaten by bears; a bear like Winnie The Pooh ate all the honey.”
Paul and his fellow bee enthusiast Peter Hoskins, together with the Reserve, are already in the process of purchasing five new bee colonies which should be delivered and introduced shortly.
Peter, who has managed and supported beekeeping at Rodley for many years, said: “It’s a pleasure to be involved at Rodley and to see as many children as possible learning about bees. What the Reserve delivers via the education team and the Robins Club is wonderful”.
The Rodley Robins Club formed back in 2016 has proved very popular and is now fully subscribed with a long waiting list but to find out more about Rodley Nature Reserve, visit www.rodleynaturereserve.org.
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