When I was eight years old, my primary school class was tasked with a personal project to be about insects, molluscs or arachnids. I chose to research and write about bees & wasps. Never one to do anything half-hearted, I visited an apiary to learn how honey was made and donned a beekeeping suit whilst presenting. A true passion was born in that moment. Fast forward twenty-odd years and I had the opportunity to visit the Bee School.
Based in the beautiful and quaint village of Luss, nestled on the banks of Loch Lomond, the Bee School is an educational centre that strives to teach the importance of bees in our ecosystem. The Bee School offers immersive experiences for all ages, offering bee safaris and more in depth weekend courses.
For our Bee Safari, we joined Heather for the day as she taught us more about bees, carried out honey tasting and finally took us out to the hives.
The Wonder of Bees
We first learnt more about bees and the hive behaviour. I’ve always found the nature of bees fascinating but really had no idea how their intricate lives were. From the way they communicate to the formation of honeycomb, not to mention how they impact our environment, it’s easy to understand the buzz around bees.
Fun fact: the majority of the bees you see in nature are female. The female worker bees perform all the hive chores such as foraging for food, building and maintaining the hive and caring for the Queen and the young. Drones (male bees) have the sole purpose of mating with the Queen. These drones are often kicked out (and sometimes dragged) by the worker bees when it becomes colder so that they can conserve hive resources.
Honey Tastings
Lover of bees but not of honey or so I thought. The honey tasting was the part of the day I was least looking forward to but it turns out I just don’t enjoy the taste of the highly processed ‘honey’ you can find on supermarket shelves. I was pleasantly surprised by The Bee School’s honey tastings. We tasted various types of honey and had to guess which was which. It was quite incredible being able to taste the flower that the bees were predominately gathering nectar and pollen from.
Beekeeping
The final activity in our Bee Safari, and the highlight of the day, was hands-on experience in beekeeping. Dressed in our beekeeping suits, we visited the hives and were taught the extraordinary effort that goes into caring for these incredible creatures. Whilst it’s initially daunting to be surrounded by that many bees, dressed in all your PPE, you soon forget and can immerse yourself in the experience. From learning how to handle the bees safely to extracting honey, I left with newfound knowledge and a determination to own my own hive one day.
Whether you are looking to expand your knowledge about nature and beekeeping or just want to try something new, I couldn’t recommend a visit to The Bee School enough. After my Bee Safari, I have continued my efforts to help local pollinators and I hope I can visit again for further training when I’m closer towards my goal of beekeeping.
Learn more about The Bee School.
Until next time,
Ashleigh x