Dunderry conservationist and beekeeper's fears for the future of our buzzing friends

A BEEKEEPER from Dunderry has opened up about his love of the land but delivered a sting in the tail of how a world without bees could result in major food shortages and a possible famine.

Pat Stanley (69) who has been a beekeeper for almost 40 years was speaking about the critical link between bees and pollination.

About three quarters of crops produced globally require animal pollination to some degree, meaning insect pollinator declines could threaten the food supply of our already crowded planet.

One third of wild bee species are threatened with extinction from Ireland.

More than half of Ireland’s bee species have undergone substantial declines in their numbers since 1980. The distribution of 42 species has declined by more than 50% according to The Biodiversity Data Centre.

Honey bees are disappearing globally at an alarming rate due to pesticides, parasites, disease and habitat loss.

“If were to lose the bees there could almost be a famine, they are such an important pollinator of everything, almost every fruit and vegetable is pollinated by honeybees,” said Pat.

“We had a nasty parasite that came into this country a few years ago called Varroa and it was decimating hives, we just have to fight it as best we can.

“We have nearly 100 species of bees in this country and honeybees are about the best. It would be an awful disaster if anything happened to them.”

Pat who grows an array of fruit and vegetables together with his wife Mary from their home in Dunderry is passionate about self-sufficiency as he explains:

“I was always interested in beekeeping and Warrenstown College were doing courses in the early ‘80s and I enrolled in that and got my first hive and I progressed from that, and I have about ten hives now.

“I was always very interested in self-sufficiency and self-reliance. I know you can buy vegetables for a quarter of the price that I produce them at home, you don’t save money, it is actually costing you money, but I just love doing it and I get great satisfaction.

“A lot of people that were off work over the last year due to Covid tried to do something similar and I’d recommended that everyone should try to produce even some of their own food.

“I grew up on small farm and we produced practically everything and now people have become divorced from the land, and I think that is a great pity.”

“We have a small holding here at home, you name it, I grow it. I have all kinds of wonderful things like apricots and figs, I have vines and produce my own grapes and I even have a kiwi tree. I have every kind of fruit you can imagine like Japanese wine berries, raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries.

“We produce jam and honey that we sell at the organic market in Trim. We have had animals down through the years like chickens, sheep, goats and cows.”

The passionate food producer admits that although beekeeping is extremely enjoyable it is also a big commitment.

“It’s not a hobby for everyone but I love it. It’s something that you have to be really dedicated to. You have to know what you are doing and have to be committed and you learn by experience.

“You have ups and downs, good seasons with surplus honey and seasons when you don’t get any honey.”

Pat describes the process of maintaining bee colonies:

“The bees go into a dormant state for the winter, but they don’t actually hibernate.

“From about late April right into the summer, they are very active when the flowers are out, that’s where the bees get their pollen and nectar that they turn that into honey so the next six weeks or so is a very busy time for beekeepers.

“Bees will get nectar and pollen from almost every flower, apple blossoms, clover, dandelions but the best of all is Rapeseed Oil and it is coming into flower now.

“They love that more than anything else, if you have a good hives of bees and are reasonably near a field of Rapeseed Oil you should get a crop of honey.

“Later in the season around July you take the honey in and harvest it. We sell our honey in the local market or from the gate.”

A beekeeper has to be alert for swarming, a term used to describe the normal method by which honeybee colonies reproduce according to Pat.

“From May onwards a beekeeper has to be very very alert for a process called swarming, that’s when bees want to multiply.

“Everything in the world wants to reproduce so it’s a very natural process.

“The old queen and about half the bees in the hive want to leave and she will replace herself by laying a replacement. When this process is going on you have to be really on top of the job to prevent it because if you have a swarm about half the bees and the swarm leave the hive and it essentially means that you won’t have a strong hive to bring in surplus honey and that is the whole purpose of keeping bees.

“An experienced beekeeper will know the signs of swarming. Swarming is a natural process; bees want to swarm. If you know what process to follow you can increase your stock of bees by artificially swarming them.”