Members of Cambuslang Apiary Project are buzzing about a new course.
Bee enthusiasts can get a sweet deal when by learning more about the winged insects and how to take care of them.
The community group is offering online talks as well as outdoor visits to their Honey Bee apiary.
Jean Hunter, a member of CAP, told Lanarkshire Live : “The group started as just a group of local beekeepers, a number of them were qualified beekeepers. It started around six years ago.
“We have new members starting all the time. The apiary is run as a training apiary, the main purpose is for people to come along to help with the bees. If they are not qualified beekeepers then they are supervised.
“We’re based at Clydesmill Community Fire Station, it’s on a huge campus and we’re at the back of the station.
“The idea for the apiary originally came from the fire station and when they moved they wanted a lot of land, so not only were they advertising for fire safety, but they also opened up new land for community development. It was intended to have community groups.
“We work right next to Growing Together, where the community learns about growing plants and flowers.
“We worked in partnership with Healthy ‘n’ Happy and they put in an application for a Scottish Government Grant which we were lucky enough to get, and that’s allowed us to do the talks and courses about beekeeping for those interested.”
The course is free of charge and is open to anyone and gives people the chance to understand how bees work and the important roles that they play.
Jean added: “We meet every Sunday and have our qualified beekeepers there with the volunteers and there’s always something to learn at the weekly meeting or a project to manage, such as being taught how to feed the bees or learning how the hives are constructed.
“We’re hoping people from the course will feel confident about bees and enjoy the practical element of it. They’ll see what a hive looks like empty as well as be able to see 30,000 bees inside it.
“We wear full bee suits and it’s impossible to be stung in the face, beekeepers use a smoker to calm the bees down before they open the hive.
“We harvest the honey from the bees at the end of the summer. It can be quite a long process, but we did it last year and were selling it in shops on Cambuslang main street. It was flying off the shelves and hopefully, we can do a lot more this year.
“The full activity of beekeeping is community-based, as you have to be close to the hives and other keepers. People are so interested now in the environment and pollinators and I hope a lot of people take the opportunity to access more information about beekeeping.
“There are hundreds of beekeepers in Scotland, it’s a very old network with new parts of it, and it’s very established.
"The main one for Scotland is the Scottish BeeKeepers Association and there are Lanarkshire ones and local ones like us.
“Some of our members have their hives as well. Currently, at the apiary, we have eight but this can vary, if a colony dies or if we get a new colony.”
**Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did yo u know Lanarkshire Live is on Facebook? Head over to our page to give us a like and share.
