Bee hives for Tottenham allotments

Publication date: Thursday 12 August 2010

Tottenham residents are asked to get busy with bees on a Tottenham community allotment which now has its own bee hive.

The Living Under One Sun Community allotment in East Hale had the hive installed earlier this month, with another expected to be soon.

Residents are being called on to learn the skill of beekeeping to make sure the young colony of bees survives the winter.

Cllr Nilgun Canver, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, visited the allotments with Tony the beekeeper and Neighbourhood Manager, Leyla Leskardi, to watch the installation of the hive.(see picture). She said:

"The bee hive is more than a novelty as we hope local people will learn to look after the bees and help harvest the honey. I also hope the hive will provide a platform for young people to learn about sustainability and biodiversity and the importance of the birds and the bees to our neighbourhood."

This is a young colony of bees so no honey will be expected this year. The colony consists of one queen, called Esmeralda, about 300 drones (male) and at its peak will have up to 60,000 female worker bees.

During the summer the queen will lay about 2,000 eggs a day building up the colony while the worker bees fly around foraging for good sources of pollen and nectar to build up stores for the winter.

The challenge as beekeepers is to bring the colony safely through winter.

The community is asked to support the bees either by becoming beekeepers or by planting bee-friendly plants.

The Living Under One Sun project and will hold talks and training sessions for interested residents over the coming months.

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