Relocation of a wild bee colony

The relocation of a wild honeybee colony

Tree Bee Rescue worked in partnership with BeesMAX recently to successfully rescue and relocate a live colony of honeybees to Chessington Garden Centre. Tree Bee Rescue orchestrated the placement of the remains of a veteran tree to the nursery grounds at the garden centre. 

The team at Chessington Garden Centre have been incredibly supportive, providing wonderful facilities for the bees – the installation of the new hives has been an absolute joy. And the tree surgeons, County Tree Surgeons, were on hand doing all the hard graft and were equally exceptional. A big team effort! 

The lime tree bee rescue

Honeybees you see in the garden and in the meadows of the UK countryside originally came from hollow trees and were then domesticated into the manufactured beehives you see today. Tree Bee Rescue was set up to rescue wild honeybee nests as bees crave the warm, sheltered, safe space of a hollow tree trunk. And our services came to the fore very recently with BeesMAX and County Tree Surgeons with the placement of the remains of a veteran tree in the nursery grounds at Chessington Garden Centre.

The trunk of the veteran tree had wild bees living within it and needed to be rescued. The garden centre was incredibly kind to allow Tree Bee Rescue and BeesMAX to relocate this trunk to the garden centre so the bees will now be able to survive and produce swarms and help maintain the local bee population.

Honeybee colonies will remain for many generations in a tree that could have already taken a hundred years to grow.

Bee hive events and activities

Tree Bee Rescue works alongside BeesMAX in delivering  events and activities at various BeesMAX hives around the UK. The new hives at Chessington Garden Centre will now provide an exciting venue for many guests to come along and put on the bee suits. Visitors will the chance to safely experience the whole immersive effect of being surrounded by hundreds of flying insects that make a consistent and coherent sound. 

Becoming entranced is not too strong a word. When you enter the realm of the white noise of bees flying freely around you, sometimes in their thousands, then all other thoughts disappear and all other problems seem to melt away.

The sound our visitors experience is a little like white noise that people are more familiar with these days. But with the bees, they have their own white noise, their own hum.  

The support that makes the difference

Chessington Garden Centre, and other businesses across the UK, are incredibly important locations for the raising of awareness and education in the importance of the honeybee.

We’d like to thank all the staff at Chessington Garden Centre who have championed the honeybees and the installation process through to completion. And out thanks also to the work of County Tree Surgeons – we look forward to working with many other tree surgery companies across the UK in the continued rescue and relocation of wild honeybee hives in trees that would otherwise be at risk.