It would be sweet if native honey bee returned

THE dark European honey bee was likely a wild native insect in Ireland, but wild and feral bees have become extinct here in the past 20 years.

Bees are the only insects kept as livestock. They have been transported for centuries and domesticated for millennia. So we can’t be absolute about the native status of the wild honey bee. It’s also why wild and feral honey bees are extinct in Ireland. They were wiped out by diseases and parasites brought in from abroad. The main culprit was the infamous varroa mite.

But bee-keepers tend to be literate and they’ve been studying their subject and writing about it. An Beachaire, the journal of the Federation of Irish Beekeeping Associations, have articles fascinating to people with an interest in natural history, even if they have no intention of keeping bees. Thanks to the extensive literature on bees, we know what the Irish race of the dark European honey bee was like.