Honeybees are very important in my family, as both my Mum and brother are beekeepers. So, when I went to the Natural History Museum a few months ago (I can't believe it was such a long time ago!) and we were wandering around the garden, their honeybee tree really stood out to me.
Investigating the bee tree
There was a live colony inside, which you could see when you opened up the back (there was glass seperating too, of course). Then the foragers flew out the other side of the tree, away from the path and visitors to the museum. I thought it was really cool how they had put a hive actually into a tree, and even cooler that they didn't seem to be using frames; the bees were just naturally making their own wax boards in whatever shape they liked, and they were absolutely stuffed with honey.
They also had some standard bee boxes further away from the visitors' path, which were also very active given it was a warm day. The Natural History Museum is really great in that their garden is really informative and has a few planted up areas, but also is a wonderful wildlife space, with lots of trees and less carefully managed areas that provide hiding and nesting places. All the planting is native species, and there are plenty of flowering plants and trees that the bees can use to collect nectar from.
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