Step inside the fascinating world of our bees
Without bee pollination, estimates say that human beings would only be able to survive for four years. Picture: iStock
A few weeks back, I wrote about the bee and how it came to be such a good friend of humankind. The bee is vital in pollinating our crops, which in turn is vital to our very survival. Then, of course, there is the honey and wax that they produce and there is even a hint of their supernatural powers.
The truth is that we know precious little about this powerful influencer in our midst. It seems they have a life of their own, operating within a complex system that is all controlled by a brain that is only the size of a poppy seed.
On fine Ox Mountain days, the pleasant hum of bees will build over the coming weeks. There are up to 100 species of bee flying around in Ireland on any given summer’s day. Some are common and plentiful, others are scarce, more are endangered. In among them is the honey bee, the boy that makes our honey.
The Irish Native and Rare Breeds Society includes our native Irish honey bee on their list.
The bee’s navigational sense is phenomenal. The word ‘beeline’, borrowed from the world of bees, has become part of our everyday language - - but regardless of the line they take, how do bees know where they are going? In the animal kingdom, this ability to get around is vital; some animals can forage for miles, yet still manage to find their way home. Among them, bees are the most notable navigators, managing to find their way back to their hive every time, even if they forage a long way from home. The British Beekeepers Association provides the answer.
With such short life spans, and with so much work to do, it is important that bees waste no time getting lost when they are out foraging for food. Depending on the conditions and availability of food, bees will fly up to seven miles from the hive in search of food, representing a total search area of more than 100,000 acres. For those of us who fail to find our way around Ballina without the aid of Google Maps, bees finding their way home after endless zig-zagging and hunting for pollen seems like an impossible task.
This sun isn’t the bee’s only aid because apparently they also have the ability to communicate the direction of the food to other bees, through their “waggle dance”. There was some doubt over this theory, because the brain of the wee bee is so small. It was thought that they couldn’t possibly figure out location and communicate to such an extent, but repeated tests have shown that their navigation instructions to other bees are indeed extremely accurate.
Finally, it seems there is also another element at play; the mental maps theory. It appears bees also form mental maps of their geographical surrounding to ensure that they never get lost. Science ABC sums it up quite nicely.
The use of natural honey as food and medicine has been happening since the dawn of man. Records show that raw honey is the most ancient sweetener. Natural honey is widely accepted as being of high nutritional value and of immense health benefit.
Before bees were kept in hives, people in Ireland would have obtained honeycombs from wild nests in trees, and combs were still harvested from natural nest sites long after they were abandoned. A lovely website, nativeirishhoneybees.ie, has some interesting information to impart in relation to bees and honey, dating back to ancient times in Ireland.
In the Celtic times, beekeeping was an important industry in Ireland and honey was used as a currency. Honey was also used as a sweetener, as a food source, and as a medicine. The Celts believed that the bee was a symbol of wisdom and fertility and revered it as a sacred animal. They also believed that the bee was a messenger between the human world and the spiritual world.
In the medieval period, beekeeping continued to flourish in Ireland, with monasteries serving as important centres of beekeeping knowledge and practices. Monks raised bees and produced honey, wax, and mead.
Honey is widely valued and its use transcends the barriers of culture and ethnicity. The use of honey is even advocated and embraced by most religions. Repeatedly in the Old Testament, The Promised Land was described as “a land flowing with milk and honey”. This poetic description of Israel emphasises the fertility of the soil and the bounty that awaited God’s chosen people. Oh, how that beautiful symbol has become distorted.
A beehive is a cross between a royal court, a military barracks, and a honey factory, all running with the precision of a Swiss watch. Unlike humans, bees have a system devoid of jealousy or greed, without individual ambition or tribal privilege. They have no place for elections or hostile takeovers or war. As they go about their busy lives, they have no desire to rape the earth for riches or pollute the air with toxins. They look only to their own wellbeing and their own business and in doing so, ensure survival for us all. They have a finely tuned system that serves them perfectly, without injury to themselves or the planet. Would that we could all be a little more like the bee.
The Murmur of Bees, is an exhibition currently taking place at the Museum of Country Life near Castlebar, displaying a journey into the fascinating world of Irish bees. Catch it over the summer if you can at all.
