Despite very wet and changeable weather, this summer has been a good year for Lancaster University’s campus honeybees.

The University now has a thriving population of more than 300,000 honeybees across two sites and this year the busy bees have produced a bumper crop of more than 200lbs of honey.

Lancaster University has been home to honeybee colonies for six years following the arrival in 2018 of hives at the Ecohub at the southern end of campus as part of the Lancaster University Beekeepers staff and student-led project.

The Lancaster University bees are being looked after by Dr Philip Donkersley, an expert on invertebrate biology at Lancaster Environment Centre and a trained beekeeper.

He said: “Generally speaking the weather has been terrible for bees this year, it has been very changeable and wet with not enough consistency. However, despite this our bees have had a really good summer, the hives are thriving and the bees have produced lots of honey.

“The bees can travel up to 10km to forage for food and, as well as producing honey, will be doing an invaluable job pollinating plants and trees in the area.

“The bees at the EcoHub have also been benefitting, along with other wildlife, from some of the great initiatives we have on campus with the growing of more wildflowers, tree planting and ‘No Mow May’.”

There are now four honeybee hives located at the EcoHub and this year these have been supplemented with the addition of a new ‘Lancaster University Research Apiary’ located at Hazelrigg, at the same site as the University’s weather station and wind turbine.

Funded by a Faculty of Science and Technology Catalyst Fund grant, the research apiary has seen an additional eight hives created bringing the University’s total to 12 hives.

And the apiary is already being put to good use by researchers at the university with projects underway looking at accessible beehive designs, the use of natural bee-derived materials as alternatives for use in manufacturing, as well as research investigating the effects of climate change on aspects of bee health.

Dr Donkersley said: “It’s great that we’ve been able to expand the honeybee population at the University with the creation of the research facility at Hazelrigg.

“As well as producing honey for students, staff and others to enjoy, we are looking forward to working with research colleagues from across the university who would like to learn more about the bees and insights they can offer.”

Honey produced by the University’s bees is available to buy from the ReStore shop in Alexandra Square on campus and will help to fund the ongoing success of the research apiary.