Instead of the normal sandwich and reading combo which makes up the most of my lunchtimes, last Wednesday was something a little different. After having read about it in one of our many newsletters, I decided to join the LSE Beekeeping Society. For the mighty investment of £1.50, I'm now a fully paid-up apiarist-in-training!
We had our first session on the roof of Connaught House, one of the main buildings right in the middle of the busy city campus. There are eight roof gardens dotted around the campus, although because Connaught House is right on a corner and would get a lot of wind, this garden is pretty basic and mostly stones and ground cover plants.
The session was mainly about what a hive consists of, and our instructor went through all the various parts. The fact that the hive has the outer wooden layer (painted white here) gives it a bit of extra warmth and is apparently a quintissentially English thing. The bees aren't coming for another two to four weeks, but when they do we'll have another session (although there are only four protective suits so we might have to take turns!) learning how to look after them. There are also two other hives on the roof of one of the halls of residence further north, so we'll probably head up there at some point too.
It was really interesting to learn about the bees, including things like the fact that the honey bee is the only bee to survive over the winter in any great number (a couple of thousand hunker down in the hive and we'll have to feed them every fortnight over winter). For example, only the Queen bumble bee survives in that species by hibernating underground while pregnant, and then giving birth come spring.
So watch this space for more on the bees! The society has a blog as well as a publicly accessible Facebook page. Check them out for some interesting videos and more photos.
Update: Check out the LSE Bees official album of photos from our first training session!
Update: Check out the LSE Bees official album of photos from our first training session!
