A couple of weeks ago I interviewed a Renfrewshire based beekeeper on behalf of a colleague. There was far more material recorded than needed, mainly because I'd never been so close to a hive before or realised just how fascinating bees are. For example, did you know the Queen can, in emergency, create bees without need for a male? Puts another dimension to 'the birds and bees'. So here's some of the unused material where Ian addresses the problems facing honey bees, woes that go way beyond the woeful summer.
Ian gave me a jar of the sycamore honey. I can confirm it is indeed delicious- sweet and nutty with a gentle, lingering aftertaste of wood and warmth. With 70 hives Ian produces decent quantities of honey, if you live in Renfrewshire keep an eye out, for some reason it's labelled 'John Craig'.
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One day I'm going to stop making television and have my own hives to go with my orchard. And J.R, you can come visit.
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