From the edge of a 1930s housing estate, Owley Wood tumbles down a steep bank to the River Weaver. The woodland is ancient but many of the current trees became established following first world war clearances. Several veteran trees are now at rest, reclining unnaturally, their branches digging into the soil. I’m looking for the remains of a broad ash that for the past few years has hosted wild honeybees within its decaying trunk.
At Delamere Forest, about 5.5 miles away, a wild colony found in a Scots pine has caused excitement. The bees are dark in colour and seem to survive the winter remarkably well, suggesting they are native British bees (Apis mellifera mellifera). While honeybees shipped here from the Mediterranean for commercial apiaries will huddle around their queen in a shivering cluster until temperatures reach 10C, these wild Cheshire bees have been seen foraging at 7C. Experts are now trying to boost the population of hardy local bees to improve the prospects of our ailing insects. I’m told the honeybees of Owley Wood have been active throughout the winter.
Kevin Feeney of Cheshire Wildlife Trust guides me to the tree. The hum of the bees is barely audible over the early spring soundtrack of bird calls and the stirring treetops. Soon I spot a dozen or so zipping in and out of a deep wound where a branch must once have been. Adjusting my angle on the bank I see the comb, its regular construction at odds with the uneven bark around it. Bees crowd the structure, one dark body indistinguishable from the next in a black fidgeting mass.
There’s a nip on the breeze but, once a cloud passes the sun, bees stream out of the hollow to forage. The bright yellow pollen of male goat willow catkins sustains them before things get really floral. Ramsons underfoot release their unmistakable odour, although they won’t flower for a few weeks yet. Blowing in the right direction, the wind delivers a hint of sweet honey scent. Where a dark sticky stain has oozed down the bark one of the bees has paused to regain some energy. I’m close enough to see its striped abdomen, glistening wings and furry thorax but can’t decide where to place this one on the scale from gold to black. Bronze perhaps? I wish it good fortune nonetheless.
