0:00:02 > 0:00:03I'm Martha Kearney.
0:00:03 > 0:00:06During the week I work as a journalist and presenter,
0:00:06 > 0:00:09but at the weekend, I keep bees.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Look at that. That's fantastic.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15I've had hives in my garden for almost ten years
0:00:15 > 0:00:19but I've never had any training and I'm far from expert.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21I just hope I don't get stung!
0:00:21 > 0:00:23So this year I'm upping my game
0:00:23 > 0:00:27and attempting to produce my first-ever wildflower honey.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30I'm quite excited about that.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34I'll be finding out about the bees' extraordinary dance language...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37It's the most sophisticated form of communication
0:00:37 > 0:00:38that a non-human can do.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41..and try out my honey on the public.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Would you like to taste some honey?
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I've put three hives on a wildflower meadow
0:01:05 > 0:01:07near my house in Suffolk
0:01:07 > 0:01:10in the hope they'll produce a unique floral honey
0:01:10 > 0:01:13more delicious than anything I've collected before.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17But I'm beginning to despair.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20We still haven't had a drop of honey from the hives on the meadow
0:01:20 > 0:01:22even though we've had plenty at home.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24And a deadline's approaching.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27In just over a week, the owners of the meadow,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Matthew Hicks and Nick Cook, will be hosting a summer fair.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35I've promised to get some honey ready to present to their visitors.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Over here in the far end we'll have two tents
0:01:38 > 0:01:40where the produce stand will be,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43so that's where we'll be having your honey
0:01:43 > 0:01:45and all the other produce that's coming in.
0:01:45 > 0:01:46This should be a wonderful spot.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49So you're hoping this is all going to be filled with people?
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Yes, I mean, what it is, because it's actually quite compact,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54when you've got lots of people in here,
0:01:54 > 0:01:56there's a real sort of buzz and it's a great atmosphere.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58- A buzz!- Sorry! - See what you did there.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00THEY LAUGH
0:02:00 > 0:02:04With the late spring we've had, the meadow is still way behind
0:02:04 > 0:02:07where it would normally be at this time of year.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12The buttercup, the ox-eye daisies and the yarrow are out,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15but the wild red clover, and the knapweed that the bees love best,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17still haven't flowered.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21When they open they can be bursting everywhere.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24But will they be bursting in time for the grand opening of the meadow?
0:02:24 > 0:02:25We hope so!
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Hopefully with this weather now, we've got a week to go,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30and it should catch up.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31'With no time to waste,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34'I've brought along my reluctant assistant Chris, my husband,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37'to help find out if there's any honey ready to extract.'
0:02:45 > 0:02:49- Chris, look that's brilliant. - That's perfect.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52This is all capped with wax.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56So that means the bees have condensed the honey,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59capped it over with wax and that's all ready to go.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02- Beautiful.- That's nice and sealed, isn't it?
0:03:02 > 0:03:06- So we need to start de-beeing. - OK, so...
0:03:08 > 0:03:11- Shall I shake off?- Yeah.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15'You have to get rid of all the bees
0:03:15 > 0:03:18'before you take the frames in for extracting.'
0:03:18 > 0:03:19Oh!
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
0:03:24 > 0:03:27- I think we should hurry up.- OK.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30- You don't really like this bit at all, do you?- No.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33'I'm curious to find out how much honey we're going to get.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37'There could be 15 or more pounds in every super.'
0:03:39 > 0:03:41I mean, this is good. Four supers.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45We could get 50, 60, 70 pounds of honey. It's amazing.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Really pleased.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49I'm just going to shut the door,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52because if they get in here it's absolute chaos, isn't it?
0:03:56 > 0:04:00'Unfortunately, we've left a few bees stuck to the frames.'
0:04:00 > 0:04:02Let me just get it out.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04Yeah, I can hear another one.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Oh, look!
0:04:08 > 0:04:10What?
0:04:12 > 0:04:14A flying one.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Even though we thought we got all the bees out,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22there are some stuck in the middle of it.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Chris is trying to get them out without being stung.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I'm standing a distance cos I'm quite allergic.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30It's quite bad for me if I get stung.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33Can hear him.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37I'll just have to get him when I find him.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39- Her.- Her.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44'If the bees have been feeding on the wild flowers,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46'then the honey should be lighter and runnier
0:04:46 > 0:04:48'than the honey I usually get.'
0:04:48 > 0:04:50That makes sense.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53- OK, well, I think that one's pretty well...- OK.- Yeah.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56'At home they mainly feed on oil-seed rape
0:04:56 > 0:04:59'which makes the honey set very firm.'
0:05:02 > 0:05:05- Have a little slurp of this.- OK.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Mmm.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13- Yeah, that's good. - It's lovely, isn't it?
0:05:13 > 0:05:15- I think it's more fragrant. - I think it's a bit lighter.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18How much do you think we've got in there?
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Um, I don't know. Maybe... Maybe...
0:05:21 > 0:05:2320 pounds?
0:05:23 > 0:05:25I mean, 40 jars, 40 little jars.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29- Shall we see?- Yeah.- OK.- That would be great if we got that many.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32I love this bit.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39'We spin the honey out using a centrifugal extractor.'
0:05:49 > 0:05:52All right, let's see what's in there.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55- Yep.- Oh, that's flowing beautifully, isn't it?- Yeah, lovely.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Nice and light honey.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00- How's it going? - It's going good actually.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Really, really well. We've got loads.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05- Have you really?- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:06:05 > 0:06:06When you say loads, you really mean...
0:06:06 > 0:06:09- Loads. I mean, you can see. - Oh, my goodness. How exciting.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12- Yeah.- There should be loads of jars.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17Right. Oh, my god, I don't think that's safe, that handle.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20- I'm going to lift it like this.- OK.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24'It's time to put our harvest into jars.'
0:06:34 > 0:06:38- I'm so relieved.- I know. - Yes, we've done it!
0:06:38 > 0:06:40With the weather and everything,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42I really thought we weren't going to manage it.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44- It's fantastic.- Wonderful.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48'We'll have plenty of honey to show at the fair.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50'It's a much better haul than usual.'
0:06:52 > 0:06:5512, 14, 15.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Do you know how much there is?
0:06:58 > 0:07:00117 jars.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I mean, that's nearly 60 pounds of honey, isn't it?
0:07:03 > 0:07:06- It's nearly 60 pounds. Brilliant. - Fantastic.- Absolutely brilliant.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09I think this is our best haul ever, isn't it?
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Never had that much before.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13'And that's from just one of the hives
0:07:13 > 0:07:15'but I don't know for certain
0:07:15 > 0:07:18'if they've been feeding on the field of oil-seed rape next door
0:07:18 > 0:07:20'or the wild flowers in the meadow.'
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Bees tend to follow each other to the best source of food.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33They have a remarkable way of communicating this information
0:07:33 > 0:07:35to the rest of the hive,
0:07:35 > 0:07:40which was discovered by scientist Karl von Frisch back in the 1960s.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Like many experts in the past,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49he had noticed a curious dance-like movement in the hive.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Von Frisch proposed that this was in fact a form of coded language.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01In 1973, he won a Nobel prize for his research
0:08:01 > 0:08:05and this amazing phenomenon became known as the waggle dance.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I've come to Sussex University to meet researcher Margaret Couvillion
0:08:10 > 0:08:14and to find out how this language really works.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17So it's a lovely warm summer's day today,
0:08:17 > 0:08:18so there's actually quite a lot of dances.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22- Do you see that right there? - Oh, yeah, yeah, I can see it.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23So it looks like a figure of eight.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26The bee waggles her body and then she'll stop and she'll return,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28come back, and then she waggles again, stops,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31returns from the opposite direction and comes back.
0:08:31 > 0:08:32This is the waggle dance.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35It's the most sophisticated form of communication
0:08:35 > 0:08:37that a non-human can do.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40It's where a successful forager has gone out
0:08:40 > 0:08:44and she's found a good source of nectar and pollen, that's their food.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47And she comes back and she tells her nest mates exactly where she's been.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51She gives them the directions of where they can then themselves go
0:08:51 > 0:08:53and find this good source of forage.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55We're watching it here inside the lab,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58but normally this would be in a dark cavity,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00so a successful forager would come back
0:09:00 > 0:09:03and she would do this dance on the vertical comb,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and the nest mates that are receiving the message
0:09:06 > 0:09:09will follow her, touching her with their antennae.
0:09:09 > 0:09:10And it's this contact,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13and the fact that they are themselves sitting on the comb,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15is what allows them to get the information.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17So, because they're touching her,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20they can determine what angle at which she's dancing
0:09:20 > 0:09:22and because they're standing on the comb that she is,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25they can get the vibrations that she's giving off,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27so they know how long in time she's waggling her body.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31'Using a camera focusing on the observation hive,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33'Margaret shows me how to decode the dance.'
0:09:33 > 0:09:36So, Martha, I'm going to give you our two tools of the trade
0:09:36 > 0:09:38- and let you have a go at decoding the dance yourself.- Right, OK.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42So you have your stopwatch and a protractor.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45The stopwatch is so you can get the duration of the waggle run,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47so how long she waggles in seconds,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50and the protractor is so you can get the angle at which she's facing
0:09:50 > 0:09:52while she's waggling.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56So here is a bee that's dancing, and let's time how long she waggles.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59- OK.- So we'll let her turn around again and go.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02And stop.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04So 2.18 seconds.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Two seconds, how long a distance would that be?
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Two seconds would be a little over one kilometre
0:10:10 > 0:10:12so the longer the bee waggles in time
0:10:12 > 0:10:15the further a distance she's communicating.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17We sometimes see dances for five or six seconds,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21which could then indicate three to four kilometres.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24The other piece of information that she's communicating is direction,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and that, she communicates by the way she's facing
0:10:28 > 0:10:31while she's waggling her body relative to up.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34So, next we're going to get the angle at which she's dancing,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36so she's headed like this,
0:10:36 > 0:10:3970 degrees from straight up.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43So that means 70 degrees from where the sun is on the horizon.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45It's incredibly sophisticated, isn't it?
0:10:45 > 0:10:47It's incredibly sophisticated,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50but social bees have had 70 million years to evolve,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53and so they've had plenty of time to get really good
0:10:53 > 0:10:56at doing what it is that they do, in this case communication.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00If that dance were going on inside that hive,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03if you remember it was 70 degrees from the vertical,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and it was a little over two seconds,
0:11:05 > 0:11:08which we determined to be a bit over one kilometre.
0:11:08 > 0:11:09So we find where the sun is...
0:11:09 > 0:11:13- Yes, which is there, yes. - ..drop it to the horizon.- Yeah.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16- And then we go, how many degrees? - 70 degrees.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19Then we go 70 degrees, and then how far do we go?
0:11:19 > 0:11:22- Was it just over one kilometre? - Just over one kilometre.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25That will be the resource that she's communicating.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27So do you know what's in that direction?
0:11:27 > 0:11:29So Stanmore Park is over in that direction,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and at this time of year there's white clover starting to bloom.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34White clover is attractive to honey bees,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36so it could be that she's communicated that
0:11:36 > 0:11:38she's found a nice patch of clover.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40Makes very nice honey actually, doesn't it, clove honey?
0:11:40 > 0:11:42It does. Makes very tasty honey.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55At Barton Grange, the day of the fair has arrived
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and it's time to try out my honey.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04£2.50 each, please.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Lovely, thank you very much indeed.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Matthew and Nick are raising money for their local church
0:12:14 > 0:12:16and for other charities.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22I'll be selling jars of Barton Grange honey to help out.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25When we were extracting the honey,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28it was a very light colour and it was very runny,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32but, in fact, if you see here, it's already started to set.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Rape honey tends to set much firmer than wildflower honey.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41So I think there's still oil-seed rape in the mix a bit.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44It still tastes nice.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49With a week of fine weather,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52the meadow has almost caught up with itself.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57Meadows like this used to be common, producing hay for animal feed.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01They're a haven for all kinds of butterflies and insects.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03But they're getting more and more scarce.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08One of the visitors is Richard Mabey, the naturalist and author.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12England 150 years ago would have been full of places like this
0:13:12 > 0:13:16but, as grass land was turned over to arable,
0:13:16 > 0:13:21or the grasses themselves were sown instead of just growing naturally,
0:13:21 > 0:13:23then they pretty much disappeared.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25What has that meant for wildlife?
0:13:25 > 0:13:28In particular for insects, honey bees?
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Different insects emerge at different times of the year,
0:13:31 > 0:13:35so unless you have a diversity of flowers which come out,
0:13:35 > 0:13:39let's say from April through to September,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41then lots of insect species
0:13:41 > 0:13:45which hatch from their larvae later in the year
0:13:45 > 0:13:47are going to miss out on sources of nectar.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51It's vital for the honey bees' survival
0:13:51 > 0:13:53that we ensure there's a diversity
0:13:53 > 0:13:55of flowering plants and trees available.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58And I'm hoping the variety they've had here
0:13:58 > 0:14:01will also make for great-tasting honey
0:14:01 > 0:14:03to satisfy this discerning crowd.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07Hi there. Would you like to taste some honey?
0:14:07 > 0:14:08There you go.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12- Tell me what you think.- Very good.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16- Really good.- Really good?
0:14:16 > 0:14:18Can I interest you in buying a jar, £3.50?
0:14:18 > 0:14:21- Thank you. - That really tastes of wild flowers.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24It's a mixture of, yes, lots of different things, so yeah.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Thank you.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35There you go. Go for it. Thank you.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36Well done, darling.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Is two jars too many or shall I stick with one?
0:14:39 > 0:14:43We only want one jar, really?
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Ideally one. Is that all right? Just for the time being.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48'The honey proves very popular
0:14:48 > 0:14:52'and raises over £400 for Nick and Matthew's good causes.'
0:14:53 > 0:14:55It's going really well, actually.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59In fact, we're running out of honey. We've had to ration it.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02What I like is when people come across
0:15:02 > 0:15:06so interested to find out about bees and wild flowers.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10They're really engaged with the whole idea, I think.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14- The whole thing is just busy, busy, busy. Fantastic.- I know.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17We've blitzed everywhere, haven't we?
0:15:17 > 0:15:20- Have some of your Barton Grange Honey.- Well done.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Mmm. Isn't that delicious?
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Actually, that is...
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I've got to say, that's nicer than the honey you gave me.
0:15:32 > 0:15:33Oh, I see!
0:15:33 > 0:15:37The honey from YOUR meadow is better than the honey from my garden.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39I see, we're getting competitive honey now.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43It's a different taste actually. Very different.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45It's much coarser.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47It's delicious.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49I think it's very nice.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55'When my beekeeping mentor, master beekeeper John Everett, arrives,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59'I'm keen to get his verdict of my first crop of Barton Grange honey.'
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Thanks for coming along. I hope you don't want to buy any honey.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04- I've sold out.- Excellent. That's what you should have done.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06I know, exactly. I'm very pleased about that.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09- Do you want to try a bit? - Yeah, let's try it and see.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14This is the batch that I extracted from Barton Grange,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18from here, just over a week ago.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20- Crumbs, that's a lot for me to eat.- Oh, yes.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24- I think you have too much of... - Hmm, lovely.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28I'm amazed that it's such a soft consistency, but...
0:16:28 > 0:16:31I'm sure that the main components
0:16:31 > 0:16:32must be oil-seed rape,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35because it's so light-coloured.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38There must be a mixture of things like, say, blackthorn,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41and perhaps other fruit trees in here,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45and actually I think it's brilliant, is this. It's a really nice flavour.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48'I'm pleased John likes it,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51'but disappointed that, after all this work,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54'it's still dominated by oil-seed rape.'
0:16:57 > 0:17:02I started this project with the aim of getting true wildflower honey,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and I'm determined to do so.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07There are many honeys on the market
0:17:07 > 0:17:11that are made from just one source of flowers.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13I want to learn how they're produced.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15- Hello.- Hello, welcome.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18This is the best way to arrive at Tregothnan, isn't it?!
0:17:18 > 0:17:22I've come to the Tregothnan Estate in Cornwall
0:17:22 > 0:17:24to meet estate manager Jonathan Jones.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26He produces manuka honey,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and I'm hoping he'll be able to let me in on his secret.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37The estate has Cornwall's largest private botanical gardens.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Many rare species thrive down here
0:17:40 > 0:17:43in the county's balmy microclimate.
0:17:43 > 0:17:44This is manuka bushes,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48which is common on the Coromandel peninsula in New Zealand.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51And our climate here in the middle of Cornwall
0:17:51 > 0:17:54is just like they get in that area, so they're very happy bushes.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59Lovely. Thank you very much. That's beautiful.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01We suddenly thought,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03"Well, actually why don't we try making manuka honey?"
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Because it hasn't been done before shouldn't really stop us.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09So we got a friendly beekeeper,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12put some hives next to the manuka bushes,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14made lots of silly mistakes.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17However, proved that we could produce
0:18:17 > 0:18:19a tiny, tiny amount of manuka honey,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23just enough to prove that, in theory, it could scaled up.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Manuka honey is highly sought-after
0:18:26 > 0:18:30because it's believe to have powerful medicinal properties.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Honey is a very complicated natural product
0:18:33 > 0:18:36that's never been synthesized - you can't make this stuff.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40This is why I think it's so special, and probably why it's so effective,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42because, do you know, in medicine
0:18:42 > 0:18:47bugs have become resistant to almost everything man-made,
0:18:47 > 0:18:48but never to honey.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52Honey is still as effective today as it was for the Egyptians.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55Manuka honey just has this extra potency.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57It's like super-strength honey, if you like.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01Well, I've seen the bushes. I'm very keen to taste the honey now.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Ah, this is the best bit, I think.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06It's quite a kind of creamy consistency, isn't it?
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Well, that's rather lovely, actually, isn't' it?
0:19:12 > 0:19:16So, yes, possibly very special, possibly very potent,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18but it can cost a lot, can't it?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20I mean, how much would a jar this size market for?
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Oh, we wouldn't even sell it in this jar, it's too big.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Our normal jar is quite tiny. Shall I show you one?
0:19:26 > 0:19:29In fact, we had a lady at the Chelsea Flower Show.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34- That is bijou, isn't it?! - She said, without even paying for it,
0:19:34 > 0:19:35she said, "I've been looking for this",
0:19:35 > 0:19:37and started wiping it all over her face,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40saying, "It's really good for your complexion." And then she said,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44"And how much is it?" And my colleague said, "Well, that was £50."
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And she said, "I'll have two." No problem at all.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50It has a real following. And...
0:19:50 > 0:19:54So - hang on - you're telling me a jar this size costs 50 quid?
0:19:54 > 0:19:58- £50. And...- Right, you'd have to care a lot about your skin!
0:20:05 > 0:20:07I'm here to find out how they make sure
0:20:07 > 0:20:11that the bees feed on the manuka and not on other flowers.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13- Hi, Will.- Hello.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18'Will Radmore is Tregothnan's head beekeeper.'
0:20:18 > 0:20:22In your preparations for getting this fantastically expensive
0:20:22 > 0:20:24and delicious manuka honey,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26what do you have to be sure of doing?
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Well, I've got to be sure to get rid of any other honey
0:20:29 > 0:20:30that was in the hive beforehand,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34so I remove all the combs and extract the honey
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and then replace combs on the hive
0:20:36 > 0:20:39ready for the bees to start working the manuka.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42So you can be sure that that will be predominantly manuka honey.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46It will be predominantly manuka, yeah.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Now, I've got a project that I'm trying to do,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52which is I've put some hives on a wildflower meadow,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56but they're near a field of oil-seed rape as well.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59So to get my wildflower honey, what do I need to do?
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Wait until the rapeseed has gone, extract the honey, and then,
0:21:02 > 0:21:03if they are next to something,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05they're generally lazy in their own minds
0:21:05 > 0:21:07and they don't want to fly a mile and a half
0:21:07 > 0:21:09and they will collect it from their doorstep.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13I should be able to apply this principle to my wildflower honey.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22Since we took off the last lot of honey
0:21:22 > 0:21:25from the hives at Barton Grange, three weeks ago,
0:21:25 > 0:21:27the oil-seed rape has stopped flowering
0:21:27 > 0:21:30and I'm hoping the bees will have been foraging
0:21:30 > 0:21:32on wild flowers ever since.
0:21:42 > 0:21:43Well, it seems quite a long time ago now,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46but this started off as a nucleus,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49a small colony of bees,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and they've grown fantastically well,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54you could see they were right up with three supers.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58And what I'm hoping is that we'll be able to use
0:21:58 > 0:22:01the method I learned about in Cornwall,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05which is we've taken off all the oil-seed rape honey
0:22:05 > 0:22:09and all of this should be
0:22:09 > 0:22:12from the wildflower meadow,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14because that's what the bees have all been foraging on.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17So I'm hoping this will be quite a different kind of honey.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24We take a full super of sealed honey,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27hoping that this will be the wildflower honey
0:22:27 > 0:22:28I've been dreaming of.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47I love the smell of it.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Cos you get the smell of the beeswax and the honey,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51it's fantastic.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Ooft!
0:23:00 > 0:23:03I think... Look at that in the light.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06I think that is considerably lighter.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08Yeah, that's lovely and clear.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11I'm quite excited about that, cos that, to me,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15- looks much more like wildflower honey.- Brilliant.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21'And now it's time for the final taste test.'
0:23:22 > 0:23:25So, here we go,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29this is the last jar of honey we've extracted,
0:23:29 > 0:23:34so from this batch we've got rid of all the oil-seed rape honey.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And this, we think,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41is honey made from the wild flowers in your meadow.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44So would you like to have a taste of it?
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Here we go, who wants to go first?
0:23:48 > 0:23:51Chris, you're the one who's been... You've been...
0:23:51 > 0:23:53I've been cranking the machine, and this...
0:23:53 > 0:23:58I've worked this out, this is jar number 185.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00THEY LAUGH
0:24:00 > 0:24:02Seriously?
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Yeah, I mean, it's about 95 pounds of honey
0:24:05 > 0:24:10we've got out of Barton Grange, which is fantastic, so...
0:24:10 > 0:24:14hopefully, this is the best as well as the last.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Yeah it's really, really nice.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23I could drink it, it's so delicious.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28It's just so light, whereas the other stuff was more...
0:24:28 > 0:24:31- grainier.- Yes, absolutely. Definitely, yeah.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Hmm. I think it's lovely.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36It's really much more intense
0:24:36 > 0:24:38and, I think, a more complicated taste
0:24:38 > 0:24:40than the honey we extracted earlier.
0:24:40 > 0:24:44Lots of different floral tones in there.
0:24:44 > 0:24:45'It may taste delicious,
0:24:45 > 0:24:47'but I'm still curious
0:24:47 > 0:24:50'about exactly which flowers the bees were foraging on.'
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Peter Martin tests honey
0:25:02 > 0:25:05for honey packers and importers.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08The industry needs to check
0:25:08 > 0:25:10that the honey has come from
0:25:10 > 0:25:14where the documentation says it came from
0:25:14 > 0:25:16and the pollen will reflect that.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Peter uses filter paper
0:25:19 > 0:25:22to extract grains of pollen from the honey
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and examines them under a microscope.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Different flowers produce pollen
0:25:29 > 0:25:32with different shapes, sizes and markings.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34The pollen can tell Peter
0:25:34 > 0:25:37which plants the bees at the wildflower meadow were feeding on.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42What we found in the honey was that it was about 40% rapeseed,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46so it would appear that quite a lot of the honey
0:25:46 > 0:25:49has come from rapeseed. But that isn't correct,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52because some pollens are overrepresented
0:25:52 > 0:25:55and others are underrepresented,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58and so one has to do a calculation
0:25:58 > 0:26:01to estimate...
0:26:01 > 0:26:04what percentages of nectar
0:26:04 > 0:26:06have come from the different plants.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11And, in this case, only 13% of the nectar
0:26:11 > 0:26:12came from rapeseed.
0:26:12 > 0:26:19In other words, this is essentially an 87% wildflower honey.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29There were so many points during the whole of this year
0:26:29 > 0:26:31when I thought we had absolutely no chance at all
0:26:31 > 0:26:34of getting wildflower honey,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36because the weather was really against us.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41Everything was so late, and even when we got some honey,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44I couldn't be completely certain that it was wildflower honey
0:26:44 > 0:26:46even though it tasted delicious.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49But scientifically,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52this is overwhelmingly wildflower honey,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54so we did it, and here's proof.
0:27:04 > 0:27:05As summer gives way to autumn,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08the days get shorter and the temperature drops,
0:27:08 > 0:27:11the bees come out to forage less and less.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15By now, they should have laid down stores
0:27:15 > 0:27:17to last them through the winter.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21The queen has stopped laying eggs,
0:27:21 > 0:27:25so as the bees born in early summer start to die,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27the colony reduces in number
0:27:27 > 0:27:30until just a core of about 10,000 remain.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35This is pretty much the last thing I'll do in my bee keeping year,
0:27:35 > 0:27:37because I've given the bees lots of sugar syrup -
0:27:37 > 0:27:39they'll have turned that into stores
0:27:39 > 0:27:41to keep them going through the winter,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44and I just hope that they'll survive through to the spring.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50This has been the weirdest year, I think,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53in all the time that I've kept bees.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55To be honest, early on,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58I thought I'll be surprised if my bees survive,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02let alone getting any honey. But, in fact, you know, amazingly,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06I've ended up with now six hives, which I'm going to keep them all -
0:28:06 > 0:28:09try and keep them all - and some wildflower honey.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12And in the course of it I've learnt so much.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15I really feel now I can identify the queen,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19I can re-queen, I know which bee diseases to spot,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21and I'm just full of even more admiration
0:28:21 > 0:28:23for these incredible little creatures.