Bees for Development Journal 136 September 2020
Italian beekeepers set out to find, protect and learn from those living free Giacomo Ciriello, Project Manager, Bees for Development It was unusual and inspiring to attend an event for beekeepers where so many of the conversations were about bees living free of them. In its second year, the Bee Natural Festival was an open yet close gathering. We spent the weekend around a beautifully diverse apiary in woodland, uphill from Montebello di Bertona, a small town on the edge of the Gran Sasso National Park, Abruzzo in Italy. Engaging talks by researchers, activists and seasoned beekeepers gave way to expert demonstrations with colonies homed in various hive types.
Five, ten then fifteen minutes and still no sign of the bees returning. This was upsetting. Tom Seeley writes that: “If the bees are gone more than 15 minutes, then things are pretty hopeless because the bee tree is probably more than 2.5km away. Bees are not likely to recruit nest mates over such a great distance, so probably you will never get a heavy traffic of bees at your comb.” Resigned to the fact that we were not going to see a bee line established between our box and their nest, we unpacked our lunches. Attention was waning, when a bee flew straight towards us, landing on our feeding station. Ha - it worked! Twenty-three minutes had passed since we set her free from the box. Within a few minutes another four bees returned and we were able to put a spot of colour on each one with markers. We took note of what directions they were flying away and waited for them to complete another two trips. But they would fail to convince fellow foragers to join them. Nonetheless, satisfied that we had identified what direction they were moving in we were able to trap three in the box again, and move 1km north-west. Here we released our marked bees, but they were not able to find us again. After a 40-minute wait, we called the hunt over. Even though we were nowhere
Eager for something a bit more adventurous, twelve of us had enrolled to ascend further up the mountain on the first morning, with the ambitious goal of catching foraging bees and following them back to their nest. With such a large and inexperienced crew and only about five hours to complete, I was not too hopeful. The art of bee hunting demands plenty of patience. Indeed, we did not make it all the way, but it was a thrill to see the techniques working. We were 1,000m above sea level when we started looking for bees. Overcast and breezy, the weather was not ideal but fair. By early August, the main nectar flows are past in this region, but there was still some blackberry blossom and several varieties of clover and thistle. The lack of major food sources was to our advantage, as the bees may well have snubbed our offering otherwise.
Images © Giacomo Ciriello and Marta di Pomponio
Leading us was Luca Vitali, who has translated and published Tom Seeley’s books in Italian, and brought a bee catching box crafted to Tom’s specifications. Most of us tried using it, but only the swiftest caught any bees. We very soon gave up chasing them between the sparse flowers in the field. The best approach was leaning into bramble and waiting for a bee to visit a flower within reach. Arms were scratched, leggings were torn but all was worth it as within less than an hour we had eight bees in the box. We walked to a nearby clearing and gathered around Luca, who proceeded to explain the next steps. Following Tom’s instructions, he poured sugar syrup, scented with aniseed, into a piece of old comb and offered it to the bees in the box. After 5-10 minutes, we set them free. They circled around a few times to memorise the spot before flying away – to the west, to the north, and in between. All we could do was wait, hoping they would come back for more.
The moment before a catch! (Using a bee catching box crafted to Tom Seeley’s specifications) 3
