The London Bee Situation: How Sustainable Is Beekeeping in London?

Posted byKeiron Derek BrownPosted inBlog, entoLIVE Blog

For more than 10 years London has seen an unprecedented rise in beekeeping across the city’s urban landscape. This talk will look at how sustainable beekeeping is in London and how it can impact other pollinators. In recent years well-meaning intentions have led to unsustainable actions.

Mark Patterson is an ecologist and beekeeper in London and an active recorder of wild bees. Through his consultancy Apicultural he works with local authorities, London businesses and community organisations to help the capital’s pollinators.

Q&A with Mark Patterson

  1. Does 1 colony equal 1 hive?
    A colony is 1 queen and the workforce. The hive is the box that houses the colony, so we do tend to use the two words interchangeably as they both refer to 1 superorganism. A collection of hives/colonies is referred to as an apiary.
  2. Which plants benefit the most from which pollinator species?
    Some pollinators are polylectic, meaning that they are generalists that feed from many different plants. Others are oligolectic, meaning that they are ‘fussy eaters’ and will only feed from a small number of plants (for example only feeding from flowers within one family of plants). Where you have a pollinator species that will only feed on a flower (i.e. a single species), these are referred to as monolectic. The monolectic species are the ones that are most at threat from competition by honeybees because they are unable to find food if their food source has been depleted by a nearby hive. So different plant species will benefit from different species. Many of the great nectar sources for bees are actually things that are considered weeds, such as thistles. Some invasive plants, such as Himalayan Balsam, can also be rich nectar sources for bees and their popularity with pollinators can be one of the reasons that they spread so easily. You’ll find guidance on planting for pollinators on my website.
  3. What sort of monitoring is going on nationally on this issue?
    Generally speaking, the biggest increase in beekeeping is in urban centres so it is big cities that are attracting the most attention. This increase in urban hives is largely being powered by commercial outfits that run ‘Sponsor a Beehive’ initiatives to “help save the planet” – which is complete beewashing and really just lining somebody’s pockets! For example, there are very few people living within the square mile, but there are a lot of beehives as they are on commercial properties. this issue is not limited to the UK or even Europe – we’re seeing it globally. For example, there are now concerns that there are too many hives in New York, Washington and Atlanta in the USA.
  4. Is there any control on who can become a beekeeper and do you need to register?
    In some cities in Europe and the USA there are strict regulations and control of beekeeping. For example, in New York and Washington DC in the USA you would need to apply for a licence to keep bees – this would be limited to keeping a maximum of 4 hives on a residential or commercial unit and the hives would need to be a minimum distance from the boundary of your property to minimise the impact on your neighbours. You would also be required to provide a source of water for them, manage them for pests and diseases and keep them in framed hives that can be checked by inspectors. However, in the UK there are no controls (apart from on the import of bees and relating to notifiable diseases) and anyone can set up as a beekeeper without a need to register. It is as easy as ordering a beehive and a box of bees to be delivered to their house with no requirement for training or registration. I would personally support mandatory registration and restrictions on beekeeping. Some local beekeepers’ associations, like London Beekeepers Association, are very good at encouraging their members to voluntarily register their hives in the areas that they cover – but this varies greatly between different areas and regions.
  5. Has the number of hives within the UK not declined since the early 20th century?
    I have not seen any real evidence to support the rumoured million hives in the late 1800s/turn of the century. Figure 1 below was generated by Jeff Ollerton from a number of sources relating to the number of bee hives in the UK. It shows there are as many bees today in the UK as there were in the 1950s. Figure 2 from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations clearly shows global hive numbers are increasing.
Figure 1: Number of bee hives in the UK over time (c) Jeff Ollerton
Figure 2: Number of bee hives globally over time (c) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

Literature references

Further info

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Published by Keiron Derek Brown

A blog about biological recording in the UK from the scheme organiser for the National Earthworm Recording Scheme.

3 thoughts on “The London Bee Situation: How Sustainable Is Beekeeping in London?”

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