Gradwell Park will be moving some winged residents into the village this spring and we can’t wait to welcome our bees. We have two hives that will be located here at the village and hope to produce our own delicious honey.
With pollinators in fast decline across the globe it’s more important than ever to do what we can to look after our bee population. Bees are essential to human life as they pollinate our crops, from fruit and veg to flowers we need these insects to survive!
As well as looking after our pollinators beekeeping is a great opportunity to connect to nature and get a better understanding of how these fascinating creatures work.
Some fun bee facts:
- The temperature inside a beehive is 34°C
- A beehive can hold up to 10,000 – 60,000 honeybees
- Bee brains have 1 million brain cells (humans have 1 billion)
- A honeybee can fly up to 16 mph
- The amount of honey a bee will make in their lifetime is 1/12 of a teaspoon
Here at the village we plan to keep our bees located just before the entrance to our nature walk. We’ve already cleared the area ready to set up the hives and have plans to put in plants we know our bees will love. With help from our gardening club members we will plant a range of flowers from foxgloves and sunflowers to lavender and nasturtiums.
We hope our residents will want to get involved with looking after the bees and we’ve also recruited some local volunteers who have kindly offered to give up their time to help maintain the hives and bee colonies. The bees will be a great addition to Gradwell Park and we look forward to updating you once they arrive.