0:00:02 > 0:00:08The honey bee - the most ingenious insect known to humankind.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Their intricately organised society has fascinated scientists,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17philosophers and artists since ancient times.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20'But I have to be honest - it's the honey which gets me going.'
0:00:20 > 0:00:22I love honey so much. I always have.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25I'm Martha Kearney.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28'During the week I work as a journalist and presenter
0:00:28 > 0:00:30'but at the weekend, I keep bees.'
0:00:30 > 0:00:32Look at that! Fantastic!
0:00:32 > 0:00:36'It's been a hobby - well, a passion - for years.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41'But I've never had any training and I'm definitely no expert.'
0:00:41 > 0:00:43- Is that the queen? - There's the queen.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45I spotted her! I've never done that.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49'This year, I'm going to find out as much as I can about the art,
0:00:49 > 0:00:53'culture and science of beekeeping'
0:00:53 > 0:00:55and try to produce my own
0:00:55 > 0:00:58wild flower honey for the very first time.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12RADIO WEATHER REPORT: BBC news at midday.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14A late blast of Arctic winter weather
0:01:14 > 0:01:16is causing serious disruption in many parts of the UK...
0:01:16 > 0:01:18There is still a lot of snow lying around.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Strong winds whipping that snow around,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22blowing it into drifts and causing...
0:01:22 > 0:01:26By now it should be spring, but it's still icy.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31That's a terrible start, because bees hate cold and wet weather.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44'At my house in Suffolk, I've got three hives.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49'In each, there should be a queen and a core of around 10,000 bees,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51'huddled together for warmth,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53'existing on honey stored in the autumn.'
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Getting them through the winter is a beekeeper's biggest challenge.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00I'm really frightened, to be honest.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03Because there's no sign of life at all from the hives.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06The worst case is that the bees have died.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09I mean, and that's one of the most depressing things
0:02:09 > 0:02:11that's ever happened to me.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14One year there were bees stuck right into the comb,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17which shows that they were just desperate to get the last amounts
0:02:17 > 0:02:20of food out there and they had starved to death,
0:02:20 > 0:02:22which is a horrible sight.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26It's really... I mean, it's surprisingly upsetting, actually.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29'I know people think because there are so many of them,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31'why would you get, you know, attached to insects?
0:02:31 > 0:02:33'It's not like they're your pet dog or something.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36'But they're such incredible creatures.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40'You're the beekeeper, you're the person who's looking after them.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43'So if they starve, then you feel guilty about it.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50'Bees make honey by collecting nectar from flower blossom,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53'which they bring back to their hives and store.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58'In a good season they make more than enough to last all year,
0:02:58 > 0:03:01'which is why we can extract some of the surplus for ourselves.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05'But in a bad year, they can run out.'
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Honestly can't quite believe I'm doing this.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Shoving snow out of the way in order to feed them.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16That's sugar candy.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19So, this is really kind of concentrated sugar,
0:03:19 > 0:03:24and I'm just going to stab a few holes in it...
0:03:26 > 0:03:31..so that the bees can get it through the plastic
0:03:31 > 0:03:34and get up and they will find it, I hope.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39'With spring so late, winter stores will be running low.'
0:03:43 > 0:03:45No. Nothing there at all.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52That's actually quite depressing
0:03:52 > 0:03:55because there's no sign of life at all.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58'The bees may be sheltering in the bottom of the hive,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02'but I can't open that now, because the cold would kill them.'
0:04:02 > 0:04:04This is an odd hive, actually,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07because normally they're very ferocious bees,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11the bees I'm most scared of. I just got them last year.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17'But even the bad-tempered bees are very subdued today.'
0:04:17 > 0:04:21It was a very quick look but I really couldn't see anything.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25The next hive houses my oldest colony.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30That's fantastic, cos there are bees inside.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35They just jumped on that candy and they're alive
0:04:35 > 0:04:38and in very good spirits, I'd say.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45I mean, I think the picture's pretty bleak for the two hives
0:04:45 > 0:04:52where I haven't seen bees, but this hive, which is my strongest hive,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54so my favourite hive, there were loads of bees.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56It was really, really fantastic news.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Whether there's a queen down there in the brood box, you know,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01I won't know until the weather's much warmer
0:05:01 > 0:05:05and I can open it up, but at least one of the colonies has survived.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25As April arrives, the weather finally warms up
0:05:25 > 0:05:29and the bees make their first forays into the garden in search of food.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37At last it's warm enough for me to open up my hives
0:05:37 > 0:05:39without killing the bees.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48BELL RINGS
0:05:48 > 0:05:52- Hiya! Come in. Hi, how you doing? - How are you?
0:05:52 > 0:05:55'John Everett is a master beekeeper.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59'He's been an invaluable source of advice over the years.'
0:05:59 > 0:06:01This is the honey that I got last year.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06Very similar to the kind of honey I generally tend to produce.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Mm. I like that. That's good.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16But when you taste it, you can taste oil seed rape.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20It's got whatever's around your house in terms of flowers.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24My hives are surrounded by fields sown with oil seed rape.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29The bees gorge on it, but the honey it makes is thick and a bit bland.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34There are a couple of friends of mine who have a meadow
0:06:34 > 0:06:36which is purely wild flowers that they've sown.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Lovely, old-fashioned meadow.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42If I wanted to make pure, light wild flower honey,
0:06:42 > 0:06:44I was wondering whether that would work,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46putting hives on there, what do you think?
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Well, that'll definitely work.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51If you took down, say, three or four hives,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54you've got a much better chance that one of the hives
0:06:54 > 0:06:58will do really well, even if the other hive does badly.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01For my plan to work, we need to identify
0:07:01 > 0:07:04which hives are strong enough to move.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08First we calm the bees down with a bit of smoke.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12I would use three or four really good puffs.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Then leave it for a bit. Is that right?
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Yes. People say two minutes.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Scientists believe that when the bees smell smoke,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22they eat as much honey as they can
0:07:22 > 0:07:24so they'll be able to survive if a forest fire
0:07:24 > 0:07:26forces them out of their hive.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29And being full makes them more docile.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34The smoke also masks the smell of the warning pheromones
0:07:34 > 0:07:36bees emit when threatened.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It's been used for centuries,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44as shown in this medieval Greek illustration.
0:07:45 > 0:07:51But in 1873, Moses Quinby, America's first commercial beekeeper,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53designed a much more convenient smoker
0:07:53 > 0:07:55that can be used with one hand.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57It's almost unchanged to this day.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02- I would start now.- Start now? OK. - Yes.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09'I hope my winter feed has done the trick.'
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Oh, that's great. They're right up at the top.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13I can see them. That's a real relief.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18I had put a lot of candy and they've taken a lot of it out,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21- so that's good, isn't it? - Great. Yeah, that's fine.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28- Lovely. - Right, they're all worker bees.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31'These bees, born last autumn,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34'have weathered the long winter, but will soon die off.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37'For the colony to survive, it must have a queen
0:08:37 > 0:08:41'because she lays the eggs which develop into the new larvae,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43'known as brood.'
0:08:44 > 0:08:47I really hope there's some brood, that the queen has been laying.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Otherwise there's not much of a colony here to be seen.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55- This feels very light, John. - Why isn't there any eggs?
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Oh, dear. That's depressing, isn't it?
0:09:03 > 0:09:07- No sign of any brood yet. - No.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10No, can't see any eggs.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14It's worried me that we've got to the sixth frame
0:09:14 > 0:09:16and we haven't seen any brood yet.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19- I haven't actually seen the queen yet.- No.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Let's pop this away. We've got one more to go.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Is there a chance she'd be on the last frame?
0:09:25 > 0:09:29She can move anywhere. Especially when she's not got any brood.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Can't see anything looking like the queen.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42No, can't see her.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46'Without a queen, this hive isn't strong enough to move.'
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Fingers crossed that there's a queen in this one.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Ah, this is brilliant!
0:09:55 > 0:09:59- There are so many more bees in here. - Oh, fantastic.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Lots and lots of sealed brood.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05'Sealed brood is a good sign - it means that the larvae beneath
0:10:05 > 0:10:08'are nearly ready to hatch into fully formed bees.'
0:10:10 > 0:10:13There are so many eggs on this frame, the queen might be here.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20The queen is about one-and-a-half times bigger than the other bees
0:10:20 > 0:10:22and lives for up to four years.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Every day she lays up to 1,000 tiny white eggs
0:10:26 > 0:10:28shaped like a grain of rice.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Most of them will hatch out as females who live for six
0:10:33 > 0:10:35or eight weeks and who do all the work.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42She also lays a smaller number of male eggs, which hatch into drones.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51You usually only have about between 2% and 4% of the bees are drones.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Because, being males, they do very little.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57I'm just desperately trying to see the queen.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01'To my untrained eye, the queen is very hard to spot
0:11:01 > 0:11:04'amongst the rest of the bees.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06'But this hive does seem to be doing well.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09'I'm so much more pleased by this one than the first one.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13The first one there just wasn't any of this brood.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18So this is a proper healthy, lively colony, which is great.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22- Is that the queen? - There's the queen!- I spotted her!
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- Well done!- I spotted her! I've never done that!
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Oh, do you know? This is so unusual I can't tell you.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34'We mark the queen with ink so she'll be easier to spot next time.'
0:11:34 > 0:11:38If I just hold her abdomen gently, OK?
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Fantastic! Oh, I'm so pleased!
0:11:41 > 0:11:44We found the queen, we found loads of brood.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47So, this is the hive that I'm going to take to the wild flower meadow.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50And we're going to get this in the box as soon as possible.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52What we really want to do is make sure
0:11:52 > 0:11:54we've got the queen in the box.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57- Yes, OK.- And...so I need to... - Can you see her?
0:11:57 > 0:11:59- There she is.- Yes. There she is. Yeah, yeah.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02What we're going to do now is put some more frames in quickly.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04- Yeah.- Right.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09- Right. They'll all go in because they can smell the queen.- Fantastic.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12- Can you see them all pouring into the hole?- Yes.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Can you see their bottoms stuck up in the air,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17releasing the Nasonov pheromone?
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Oh, is that the... This is "home" pheromone.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24This is home pheromone, which attracts all the other bees in.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27- So it's saying, "Come here, the queen's inside."- Yeah.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29- "This is our new home." - "This is home." Yeah.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Wherever the queen goes, the bees follow.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36It's one aspect of the intricate social organisation
0:12:36 > 0:12:40that has made the beehive a powerful symbol of cooperation.
0:12:44 > 0:12:50For the Victorians, the hive was the perfect model of a hierarchy.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Everyone knew their place according to their job,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56under the benign leadership of the queen.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02The Victorians also loved the bees' ceaseless hard work.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06When the city fathers built Manchester Town Hall
0:13:06 > 0:13:08at the height of the Industrial Revolution,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11they decorated it with bees.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17And the hive, with its stores of honey,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20also became a potent Victorian symbol of thrift,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23particularly popular with banks.
0:13:23 > 0:13:28Like this branch of Lloyds from 1865.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Now this... This hive I'm very scared of.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43It was always quite a small hive but amazingly fierce.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Different races of honey bee, though, have different temperaments.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49I did have one that was Italian
0:13:49 > 0:13:54and those bees were very well-behaved, but they died out.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57- Right.- Look at that! Fantastic!
0:13:57 > 0:13:59This is definitely better than I was expecting.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02That's great, that's very good news. Very good news.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05'But neither of us can see the queen.'
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I'm sure the queen is here because of the state of the brood,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10just that I haven't seen her.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14So, what do you think about moving this to the wild flower meadow?
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Well, I would prefer not to
0:14:16 > 0:14:18because I haven't actually seen the queen.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20OK. That seems a fair point.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22But let's, let's, let's leave this one behind then.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28'Only the middle hive is strong enough to be moved with confidence,
0:14:28 > 0:14:30'so to make up the numbers,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33'I'm going to buy two new colonies from John.'
0:14:41 > 0:14:43In the meantime, I want to find out what honey
0:14:43 > 0:14:47from a wild flower meadow should taste like.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50So I'm going to meet Jonathan Miller,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52a food buyer at Fortnum & Mason's.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58They stock over 30 different varieties of British honey.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00I've asked Jonathan to show me some of them
0:15:00 > 0:15:03to find out how the different places they come from
0:15:03 > 0:15:05changes the way they taste.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09What exactly should you be looking out for, do you think?
0:15:09 > 0:15:13What you're looking for is a sense of where the honey comes from
0:15:13 > 0:15:16and the essence of what the bees are feeding on.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19First thing to do is actually just smell these honeys, cos actually
0:15:19 > 0:15:21most of them have got very good ingesting aromas.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24- That's quite winey.- That's got quite a strong one, yes.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27If you'd like to try some?
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Mm. I really like this one.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37It's a very light, very delicate flavour.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40It's quite sort of memorable.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Mm. I thought it was absolutely delicious.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46'Some honey comes from bees who've been fed on many different plants.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50'Others have been kept close to just one species of flower.'
0:15:50 > 0:15:52So, here we've got bell heather honey.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55And this is what we would call a monofloral.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58In other words, bees are predominantly feeding on one plant.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Oh, I really don't like the smell of this at all.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04It seems quite antiseptic.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Kind of when you first smell it.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Yes, well, we sort of smelt frankincense on there this morning.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Oh, all right, OK! You're more sophisticated than I am!
0:16:12 > 0:16:15- It's sort of floral and it's quite distinct.- Mm. Quite harsh.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21Mm, no. I really don't...
0:16:21 > 0:16:24I think I just don't like heather honey very much.
0:16:24 > 0:16:25I certainly don't like this.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28- The flavour's much too strong for me, I think.- It's quite pronounced.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33- Yeah.- Now the last one, obviously quite different looking anyway.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Yes. This is the comb.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37What we've done here is simply,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40rather than taking the honey out of the comb, leave it in the comb.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42You can get quite sort of heavily waxy combs,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45but in this case, I think it's a nice sort of light...
0:16:45 > 0:16:47It's actually quite sort of edible wax.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50So, all you do is just take a good spoonful...
0:16:51 > 0:16:53..and then just eat it.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00That is lovely.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Oh, it's a beautiful flavour.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06- This is really special, isn't it? - Very special.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10- So, where has this one come from? - This one comes from Salisbury Plain.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13And what is absolutely brilliant about this
0:17:13 > 0:17:16is this is the British Army's training grounds.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And there's pretty much nil agriculture,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21because it's actually used for training,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25so it is effectively as the English countryside was, or used to be.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Untouched.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29No sort of chemicals are used
0:17:29 > 0:17:32and it's exactly what you need for a really good honey.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34'I'm determined to get my bees
0:17:34 > 0:17:37'to produce a honey as subtle and delicious as that one.'
0:17:41 > 0:17:44'In Suffolk, John arrives with the new hives
0:17:44 > 0:17:49'and two starter packs of bees known as nuclei or nucs.'
0:17:49 > 0:17:52- So, there's the two white hives in the back.- Oh, lovely.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56- And the two nuclei there. - Oh, fine. Oh, yes.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00'In each box, there's a queen and around 10,000 bees.'
0:18:00 > 0:18:03- Brood box.- Brood box. Thank you.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Along with my one good colony,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09we're all set for the trip to Barton Grange,
0:18:09 > 0:18:13where my neighbour Nick Cook has sown four acres
0:18:13 > 0:18:15with traditional British wild flowers.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18This looks absolutely fantastic.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23It's dormant now, but by June it should be a riot of colour.
0:18:24 > 0:18:29So, this is what it would look like in the next sort of couple of weeks.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31Oh, really? So it will come out.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Yeah. So the first things to appear are the cowslips.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38- Right.- And then bird's foot trefoil. - Yeah.- Oh, yes.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42- Ragged robin and the campions, pink campions.- Yeah.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45And then the oxeye daisies start appearing.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Oh, I love those. That's a real sign of the spring.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Yes. And then at some stage in early June, the knapweed.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54- Oh, isn't that pretty! - Oh, that's great, yeah.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57'It has 24 different species,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00'including many flowers that are great for honey bees to feed on.'
0:19:00 > 0:19:03- Great.- It's bee heaven, isn't it, John?
0:19:03 > 0:19:05It's going to be ideal. Absolutely fantastic.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08'When the meadow is at its best,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11'Nick opens the garden for a summer village fair.'
0:19:12 > 0:19:14This will be a sea of flowers this year,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16as it has been every year.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Well, I think this is our goal, isn't it?
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Bees sort of feasted on all your wild flowers
0:19:21 > 0:19:25and produce some pots of honey to sell at your open day.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29- Right! Shall we get started, then? - Yes. Lovely.
0:19:32 > 0:19:38So, we've got them here, at last, into this fantastic meadow.
0:19:38 > 0:19:43I love having such a wide open expanse of lovely wild flowers.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48'John's been keeping bees so long, he's used to being stung.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50'Taking off his gloves lets John
0:19:50 > 0:19:53'handle the bees much more closely than I can.'
0:19:53 > 0:19:57- Can you see the queen? - Yes. Yeah, yeah. There she is.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59She's got this little yellow dot.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02I'm going to pick her up and pop her in.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05And then we're...
0:20:05 > 0:20:08So you're absolutely certain that she's there. Is that the idea?
0:20:08 > 0:20:10- Yeah, OK?- Yeah.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14- She's in.- Lovely. There she is. Oh!
0:20:14 > 0:20:17- I'm going to just tap the bees down. - Yes. Seriously.
0:20:21 > 0:20:27Look at that huge pile of seething bees in their new home.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32'We set up the other two hives,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34'making sure there's a queen in each.'
0:20:34 > 0:20:37She's in my hand now.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40And I'm just going to let her walk off and into the beehive.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Fantastic. So, you're absolutely certain she's there now, aren't you?
0:20:43 > 0:20:45- Yeah?- Yes.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48In here, that's the brood,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51so that's the queen and the eggs and the larvae.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54So, what we're going to do is put another box on top
0:20:54 > 0:20:56that's called a super.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58And hopefully filled with delicious honey.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03The kind of hive we're using is called a WBC
0:21:03 > 0:21:07after the man who designed it, William Broughton Carr.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12On a raised platform sits the brood box for the queen to lay eggs,
0:21:12 > 0:21:16surrounded by a stacking wooden section called a lift.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20Then a super for the bees to store honey and another lift.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24The super is filled with eight frames for the bees
0:21:24 > 0:21:26to build their honeycomb.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29You can add as many supers as you need
0:21:29 > 0:21:31and then close it with a watertight roof.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38And the lid on the final hive. Job well done.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42So, there we have all three hives.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46It's all dependent on the wild flowers coming out
0:21:46 > 0:21:51and the weather and the bees settling in.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56'Wild flower meadows like this used to be common,
0:21:56 > 0:21:58'but they're fast disappearing.'
0:21:58 > 0:22:01As modern agriculture takes up more and more of the countryside,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05fields get bigger and there's less variety for bees to feed on.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10Over the past 20 years, wild honey bees
0:22:10 > 0:22:13have become very rare in the UK.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18And even managed colonies like mine have halved in number.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21But beekeepers are having more and more success in cities.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30Hives are turning up on all the best roofs - Fortnum & Mason,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33the Athenaeum, the Royal Festival Hall.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Even in schools.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39At Charlton Manor School in south-east London,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43gardener Nick Shelly is running an after school beekeeping club.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Without a doubt if you leave a hole, a bee will find it. OK?
0:22:48 > 0:22:51We're in the middle of south-east London, you know,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55where it's a very urban environment
0:22:55 > 0:23:00and Charlton Manor School has created a little bit of nature.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Right. Everyone ready?
0:23:02 > 0:23:04Cos they will come out.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Everyone OK? MANY: Yeah.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14If anyone wants to have a go, you're more than welcome.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16- I want a go. - You've got lots of volunteers.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19- Who's lifting that one out? - Him.- Yeah.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21- Shall we do it together?- Yeah.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Just be careful you keep hold of it.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28That's it.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33- So, does that feel heavy or not? - No, not really.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35I'll just put my hands under there.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39- Everyone still comfortable? - Found the queen.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43- There's the queen.- Ah, there she is. Well spotted! So she is marked.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46- Oh, yes, she is, there. - Got a red mark on her.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50- She's big!- So, all seen the queen? ALL: Yeah.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53NICK: Yeah. Happy? Happy that she's the bigger one?
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Really fascinating, actually.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58The kids are certainly enjoying beekeeping,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02but what is the secret of the urban bees' success?
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Nick and the beekeeping club are going to the garden
0:24:10 > 0:24:13at neighbouring Charlton House to find out.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Right. What about the blue bush over there?
0:24:18 > 0:24:21'Many flowers rely on bees to reproduce.'
0:24:22 > 0:24:24I can see it sucking up the stuff.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27- Do you see it with his proboscis in the flower?- Yeah.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29'They use the lure of a sugary liquid, nectar,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32'which the bees gather to make honey.'
0:24:32 > 0:24:34- Is that broccoli? - Call it a broccoli tree.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36OK, let's call it the broccoli tree.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40'In return, the bees pick up grains of pollen from one flower
0:24:40 > 0:24:44'which rub off on the next they visit and fertilise it.'
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Which plant do you think the bees like the most
0:24:47 > 0:24:49out of all of the ones we've been looking at?
0:24:49 > 0:24:54Most of the bees like the ceanothus, wisteria and geranium.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00'Gardens are planted to have flowers throughout the year, so they
0:25:00 > 0:25:04'provide more variety than fields that dominate the countryside.'
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Although each garden might be small,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11together they add up to a bigger area
0:25:11 > 0:25:14than all the nature reserves in the country.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27'It's three weeks since we put my new mini apiary
0:25:27 > 0:25:30'on the wild flower meadow at Barton Grange.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34'I'm quite keen to see how they're getting along.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36'Obviously, it's a glorious day
0:25:36 > 0:25:40'so, you know, that sort of good weather should be helping them.'
0:25:40 > 0:25:43I'm hoping I'll have three healthy colonies
0:25:43 > 0:25:45ready to produce me some wild flower honey.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58I'm just going to pop this down and there's a lot of bees on here.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01This is quite good because they're already beginning to...
0:26:01 > 0:26:04what's called "drawing out the foundation".
0:26:08 > 0:26:12So, you can see here, these amazingly regular hexagons.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18In three weeks, they have taken the flat wax foundation we put in
0:26:18 > 0:26:23and built up perfect, identical hexagonal cells
0:26:23 > 0:26:26using wax secreted from a gland in their abdomen.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31The regular shape is crucial so that even if different bees start work
0:26:31 > 0:26:35at opposite ends of the frame, all the cells will fit tightly together.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40They'll be able to fill these frames with honey
0:26:40 > 0:26:42and then they'll seal them over.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47So that's quite good.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50John suggested I keep an eye out for bee diseases,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53in particular any problems with the wings.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59One of the bees I can see has something a bit odd
0:26:59 > 0:27:01going on with its wings.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Rather worryingly, I've found another one.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09And the poor thing, its whole...
0:27:09 > 0:27:11all the wings are completely distorted,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14as if they're shrivelled up bits of wing.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Hi, John, it's Martha here.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28I've spotted two bees with wings that look,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30you know, that aren't...
0:27:30 > 0:27:32that look completely kind of shrivelled up.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35They just don't look right.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37How worried should I be about that?
0:27:37 > 0:27:43- JOHN:- Well, the real problem is it's transmitted by the pest varroa.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45And the more varroa you have,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48the more likely it is to kill your colony.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50So, yes, I would be worried.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55'The varroa mite is the number one threat to honey bees'
0:27:55 > 0:27:58and it looks like it's really taken hold in this hive.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05Next time - John shows me a new treatment for the varroa mite.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08That looks like one. And that looks like one.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10And there's three or four there.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16I explore the science behind a controversial kind of pesticide.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Neonicotinoids could have a very profound
0:28:18 > 0:28:21effect on the nutrition of the entire colony.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25'And I take drastic measures to improve the temper of angry bees.'
0:28:26 > 0:28:30Eventually I'm going to kill the old queen, cruel as it sounds.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33But she's laying very bad-tempered bees
0:28:33 > 0:28:35so I'm afraid it's curtains for her.