Would you believe over 70,000 bees are buzzing around one Cork City neighbourhood. The bees are thriving thanks to a hive on the roof of St.John's College which has been growing since 2013. The idea is to provide a home for the bees, take care of the hive & to take some but not all of the honey for local use & provide education on biodiversity and the important role bees play. I took a trip to the hive beekeeper Mark Riordan of Hive Mind who has been with the colony since day one….

The city is continuously developing and despite the loss of green spaces, the hive is thriving with what they have. Bees can travel up to 10 kilometres from the hive if very hungry so there are plenty of options in the city for food to bring back to the hive all the while pollinating our flowers which helps in the chain of the ecosystem.

The good thing about the hive is that everyone is essentially working together for the better of the environment. Mark provides a space for the bees to flourish in the city & to pollinate. The council maintain green spaces for the bees to pollinate & gather food from. The bees provide honey for local businesses and St.John’s College with Mark holds workshops to educate people on their important role & how vital they are for biodiversity.

One rule of thumb is to spread the hives across the city to avoid any competition for food and not to have too many bees dominating other species in the green spaces.
For more information on the hive visit HiveMind.ie, Green Spaces for Health and St Johns College for upcoming workshops. We’ll hear more from Mark throughout the series.