An update from NIHBS on Cloudforest Five

Update by John Greenaway, NIHBS Conservation Area Officer

Patience is a virtue apparently but it can be severely tested when it comes to the vagaries of the Kerry Seasons. The Native Irish Honey Bee is well suited to our cool maritime climate but when it comes to raising new colonies, new Queens for them,  and all that goes with it, that’s another story . 

We could have done the easy thing and buy a new colony with Queen but why do that when you can spend months battling the weather, honey bee idiosyncrasies and problems mating naturally!! Our bees are raised locally from local stock, no blow-ins, thanks!

Today is a good day and CF5 now has its own native Irish honey bees with one hive in place and another following this week. They have quite a view, don’t they!!

You can read more about the work we’re doing with NIHBS here.