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Culzean Castle & Country Park
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Successful hive move for Culzean bees
Staff at the National Trust for Scotland’s Culzean Castle and Country Park have been involved in an unusual house move recently – helping to relocate a hive of wild bees.
Staff at the National Trust for Scotland’s Culzean Castle and Country Park have been involved in an unusual house move recently – helping to relocate a hive of wild bees.
The swarm of wild bees set up home in a sycamore tree at Culzean early in the summer and had since established an impressive hive on the tree trunk. Around seven vertical combs could be seen, some 25 feet off the ground.
Phil McAnespie, a local beekeeping expert, explained that these types of exposed nests are very unusual. He suggested that this summer’s wet weather had probably prevented the bees from looking for their usual habitats, like hollow trees.
Since autumn is approaching, staff at Culzean decided that to give the bees the best chance of survival over the winter the hive had to be moved to a more sheltered sport.
Deirdre MacKinnon, head ranger at Culzean said:
“We decided to relocate the combs into a hive where they could be fed and managed through the winter. The move was successfully carried out by the beekeeper, who was assisted by an intrepid ranger on a cold, damp afternoon when the bees were fairly quiet.”
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Castle and Walled Garden:
21 Mar to 31 Oct, daily 10.30–5 (last entry 4).
Country Park: all year, daily 9.30–sunset.
Visitor Centre:
21 Mar to 31 Oct, daily 10.30–5.30;
1 Nov to 29 Mar, Thu/Fri/Sat/Sun 11–4.
Other visitor facilities:
21 Mar to 31 Oct, daily 10.30–5.30 |
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