Choosing A Habitat. Part 2 

The western honeybee evolved over millions of years, typically in the cavities of mature trees that were once part of our ancient woodlands. These covered over 70% of our landscape. an provided complex ecosystems for a wide range of creatures, including honeybees.

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Unfortunately, this extensive tree coverage which provided huge habitat choices to a rich multitude of creatures is no longer. There is very little ancient woodland with the characteristic honeybee cavities left today, and honeybees are bereft of natural nesting choices.

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Nowadays many people just assume that honeybees live in bee hives and need attending to by a beekeeper. Unfortunately, conventional beehives have been designed for the convenience of the beekeeper and honey removal. Modern hives rarely provide all of the beneficial properties seen in a tree cavity that are so intertwined with the biological needs of the honeybee.

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This presents a formidable educational challenge and fills us with gratitude for the growing numbers of people who simply wish to host honeybees to make a small contribution to address the severe loss of the creatures' natural habitat choices

Below are some examples of available nest options, highlighting some of their bee supporting features. It must be noted that these habitats are primarily designed to provide a bee appropriate nesting space for a colony of bees to exist undisturbed as they would in nature and are not designed for harvesting honey.