Forest owners invited to nurture bee population

Forest owners were urged yesterday, World Bee Day, to introduce beehives to their native woodlands.

It is part of a “Host a hive, help the honey bee” initiative, launched by Minister of State Andrew Doyle in partnership with Woodlands of Ireland and national beekeeping associations. It is also supported by the Native Irish Honeybee Society.

Minister Doyle said the initiative will also feed into the national effort to protect and preserve bees under the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan He invited all owners of a woodland created or restored under the Native Woodland Scheme to contact a beekeeping association if they are interested in hosting beehives.

The Minister said his Department under locally-led schemes is now investing €1.2m in a four-year pollinator project led by the National Biodiversity Centre.

He also confirmed the arrival of honey bees to his Department’s city centre headquarters in Dublin, where hives have been installed.

Meanwhile, a Cork company, ApisProtect, has announced a partnership with Inmarsat Enterprise, the mobile satellite communications company, to save bees and increase global crop production.

ApisProtect has developed a solution which brings the power of advanced sensors and machine learning technology into hives to deliver a 24/7 early warning system to beekeepers.