Honeybees are vital pollinators and their decline has been documented thoroughly across the news in recent years. The University of Lincoln’s Brayford Campus is home to an observation hive, installed here as part of a research project looking into insect cognition.
The University of Lincoln’s Observation Hive is kept adjacent to some of the balancing ponds.
An observation beehive is structured hive made with a glass panels, which allows beekeepers, researchers and members of the public alike, to observe and record the behaviour of their bees. These structures are transparent and easy to access, with the added benefit that the bees can be viewed without being disturbed – they also lower the risk of being stung.
Dr Adrian Goodman shows a member of staff the Observation Hive during a “Meet the bees” event.
In 2019, we started running Meet the bees events, where small groups can book to visit our hive and learn about the behaviour of our bees from Dr Elisa Frasnelli and Dr Adrian Goodman. We hope to run these events again in Spring 2021. For more information, you can follow the Sustainability team on Facebook: @uolenvironment