'They are working solely for the hive, the next generation, the queen is their priority'
PADDY GORMAN ON....
THE VALUE OF BEES TO OUR SOCIETY
“They are working solely for the hive, the next generation. It’s not about greed or anything else, they just want to make sure the hive is one unit and it keeps going forward. So they look after the queen bee because she is the only one that can lay fertile eggs, she is priority, after that they go about the pollinating basically. The honey bee is one of the better ones at doing that because we can manipulate them more. We can bring them places and pollinate certain crops such as oilseed rape, that pollination process can increase the yield and density of rape seed by 30 per cent, so it’s an advantage to the farmer to have a beekeeper with bees on site, because it increases yield.”
HOW THE BEE WORLD WORKS
The bees in a hive are all the time changing their jobs because that’s how it works in their world. As soon as they hatch out they are on cleaning duties, feeding the young grubs. Then on day five or six they go on to feeding the young ones that have hatched out. They will then move on to producing wax so they are building cells, as in building the actual hive. A few days later they move on to guard duty, security, to protect the hive so that if intruders come into the hive they will be swiftly dealt with. Finally, the bees are on outdoor duty, their last job, and in summer that’s only for about three weeks. They basically work themselves to death. Their lifespan is 42 days in the summer.”
HOW HONEY FROM DIFFERENT AREAS HAVE DIFFERENT TASTES
“I’ve hives in Trim, hives in Navan, in Ashbourne, in Batterstown. I’ve hives all over the county so I’m well spread out and that gives me different flavoured honey because the bees are working on different plants in different areas. For example I have a hive beside the Royal Tara Golf Club and the honey there is a lovely, tangy honey, it’s lime honey because that’s where the bulk of the lime trees are. Where the hive located in Trim there are a lot of dandelions so there is a flavour of dandelions in the honey. There are only subtle differences in tastes but if you were good at tasting you would know the differences. The seasons can give different flavours. During winter in Ireland there is a lot of ivy nectar the bees bring in and that’s quite a strong-flavoured honey.”
HOW TO SAVE THE BEE – AND NATURE
“We have a certain amount of people who are very concerned about the future welfare of the bee and nature generally but they don’t have the power or the money to do anything about it, to make their voice loud enough. They are the ones that are doing things. Then we have the people in the middle, the biggest group of all, but they are struggling to put bread on the table. We need to get them involved but how do we do that because they are concerned with the cost of living. Those with the money, the top five per cent, don’t care. They are living in a different dimension although in the end any significant impact on nature will affect them too.”