G-BUZZG-BUZZ

Summer/Autumn 2020 I G-Hive Newsletter I Ed. 2

glp.com/eu/g-hive

G-Hive moves into Lutterworth

Summer diary of a Beekeeper HowweharvestGLPHoney 5 Bee Facts Top Tips NewProducts NewsfromEurope

We are very excited to share news of the arrival of honeybees at the third G-Hive Apiary site in Lutterworth! Two apiaries have been installed on site which currently house over 120,000 honeybees. The new tenants have settled in well and are on track to give us a small harvest of Summer honey!

Welcome to the SummereditionofG-Buzz, our quarterly newsletter bringing you all the latest developments from GLP’s UK network of honeybee apiaries.

Our apiaries are certainly a hive of activity over the Summer months. With the arrival of the new season our honeybees are preparing their hives for the influx of pollen and nectar. They build out wax onto the frames ready to store their honey and increase the size of their colonies in order to maximise their yields. The Queen is constantly laying eggs to keep numbers high and ensure a successful crop.

Our job is to manage the hives over the course of the Summer months. We’ll harvest honey from the hives once production starts to increase, keeping an eye on the weather to make sure enough honey is left in their stores for food if the rain persists. We keep a watchful eye on any predators – especially wasps who often rob honey from hives and damage the hives themselves.

Summer also brings swarming season – where honeybee colonies split from the hive due to congestion and overcrowding. One way we combat this is to always provide extra space in the hive when we feel the colony size is increasing. Another way is to suppress the swarm which means keeping an eye on new Queen cells (eggs) being laid which is a precursor to a swarm occurring. This is why regular visits to your apiaries are really important over the Summer months.

All four GLP apiaries have had a successful yield this Summer and we look forward to sharing this lovely golden nectar with you all!

G-Hive moves intoLutterworth!

Summer Diary of a Beekeeper

A big welcome to G-Hive in Poland where GLP has installed an apiary in Wroclaw (See images below). The team there have had a chance to check in on the hives and learn more about the fascinating world of honeybees!

Five honeybee colonies are also now in place at Saint Martin de Crau in Marseille, France. These hives were installed at the beginning of the Summer and should start producing honey in 2021.

The G-Hive apiary in Mönchengladbach is going strong with work about to start on bottling their Summer 2020 honey harvest! The apiary here is helping to increase biodiversity across the site and has had a brilliant start since its installation in April.

NewsfromEurope

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G-BUZZG-BUZZ

Summer/Autumn 2020 I G-Hive Newsletter I Ed. 2

glp.com/eu/g-hive

G-Hive moves into Lutterworth

Summer diary of a Beekeeper HowweharvestGLPHoney 5 Bee Facts Top Tips NewProducts NewsfromEurope

We are very excited to share news of the arrival of honeybees at the third G-Hive Apiary site in Lutterworth! Two apiaries have been installed on site which currently house over 120,000 honeybees. The new tenants have settled in well and are on track to give us a small harvest of Summer honey!

Welcome to the SummereditionofG-Buzz, our quarterly newsletter bringing you all the latest developments from GLP’s UK network of honeybee apiaries.

Our apiaries are certainly a hive of activity over the Summer months. With the arrival of the new season our honeybees are preparing their hives for the influx of pollen and nectar. They build out wax onto the frames ready to store their honey and increase the size of their colonies in order to maximise their yields. The Queen is constantly laying eggs to keep numbers high and ensure a successful crop.

Our job is to manage the hives over the course of the Summer months. We’ll harvest honey from the hives once production starts to increase, keeping an eye on the weather to make sure enough honey is left in their stores for food if the rain persists. We keep a watchful eye on any predators – especially wasps who often rob honey from hives and damage the hives themselves.

Summer also brings swarming season – where honeybee colonies split from the hive due to congestion and overcrowding. One way we combat this is to always provide extra space in the hive when we feel the colony size is increasing. Another way is to suppress the swarm which means keeping an eye on new Queen cells (eggs) being laid which is a precursor to a swarm occurring. This is why regular visits to your apiaries are really important over the Summer months.

All four GLP apiaries have had a successful yield this Summer and we look forward to sharing this lovely golden nectar with you all!

G-Hive moves intoLutterworth!

Summer Diary of a Beekeeper

A big welcome to G-Hive in Poland where GLP has installed an apiary in Wroclaw (See images below). The team there have had a chance to check in on the hives and learn more about the fascinating world of honeybees!

Five honeybee colonies are also now in place at Saint Martin de Crau in Marseille, France. These hives were installed at the beginning of the Summer and should start producing honey in 2021.

The G-Hive apiary in Mönchengladbach is going strong with work about to start on bottling their Summer 2020 honey harvest! The apiary here is helping to increase biodiversity across the site and has had a brilliant start since its installation in April.

NewsfromEurope

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FRONT COVER PAGE 1BACK PAGE PAGE 8

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INSIDE PAGE 2 INSIDE PAGE 3

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Honeybee Facts…

Scientists believe that bees first existed some

120 million years ago.

This was when plants were just beginning to develop their cleverest invention – the flower!

A honeybee in flight beats its wings

230 times per second!

Adult worker bees have a lifespan of approximately5weeks, those born towards the end of Summer live longer because they can survive the Winter by staying warm in the hives.

When scout bees find a good source of nectar or pollen they tell the other bees

of their discovery by doing a special dance on the honeycomb called the

‘waggle dance’.

Honeybees can tell the difference between colours but they see them in a different way to us. They cannot see red, but they can see ultraviolet which

is invisible to human eyes.

1.Grow Bee-Friendly plant species in your garden: Help bees and pollinators by growing a variety of flowers and shrubs that are full of nectar and pollen, to give them a rich feeding ground throughout the year. A garden full of plants that are rich in pollen and nectar will help your local bees thrive. Even potted plants on a balcony helps! The Royal Horticultural Society have created downloadable PDF lists of year-round flowering plants here – www.rhs.org.uk

2.Avoid using Pesticides: No one wants pests on their plants, but many pesticides can be lethal to bees. Cut out chemical treatments for your plants and NEVER spray open flowers. There are various natural treatments you can try to keep pests away from your garden such as companion planting and use of deterrents and barriers. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has some great tips on natural remedies to rid your garden of pests www.rspb.org.uk

3.Cut grass less often: Some councils in the UK have stopped cutting sections of grass on their verges to encourage wildflowers to grow! You can do this too by cutting your lawn less often and encouraging lawn ‘weeds’ to flower, creating more opportunities for honeybees to forage in your garden.

4.Provide water for pollinators: For bees, a supply of water is as important as pollen and nectar forage in the Summer. They work tirelessly foraging and can become dehydrated easily if they cannot find a source of water. You can help by setting up a clean, safe place for them to stop and have a drink. It can be as simple as a shallow bowl filled daily with fresh water with stones or twigs for the bees to land on safely.

5.Support your local beekeepers: Help reinforce sustainable and environmentally friendly beekeeping practices by supporting your local beekeepers. By buying honey locally you are not only supporting your local environment, you are helping increase the numbers of local hives and the overall local honeybee population. The honey also tastes so much better! Don’t limit yourself to honey, look out for candles, furniture wax and beauty products made using beeswax and honey from your local hives.

TopTips–HowYOUcan helpBritishHoneybees

GLPHoney PaleAleand BBQ & Jerk sauce

TastynewGLP

honeyproducts!

New to the table this Summer were GLP’s latest honey products – a delicious and refreshing honey Pale Ale and a mouthwatering duo of BBQ and Jerk Sauce! Both went down a treat at the annual UK G-Tour Charity Bike Ride in September.

Both products were a fantastic way to share the delicious honey that is harvested from the apiaries across the UK. GLP is contributing to building greater biodiversity across its sites by installing these apiaries, but not only that – we get to enjoy the resulting honey too! A great way to promote sustainable beekeeping at its best! Cheers!

HowweharvestGLPHoney…

First we collect the Super boxes from the hives, making sure to leave all the honeybees behind! These Super boxes are where the bees store their honey.

Look at all of that lovely GLP honey!

We then place the frames into the honey extractor. This machine uses centrifugal force to extract the honey as it spins around.

Here are the Supers with frames of capped honey ready to be harvested.

The top threats to UK honeybees are habitat loss, pesticides, pests and diseases, extreme weather and climate change and competition from invasive species. If we all do our bit to help our local honeybees we can make a big difference in their chances of survival and help our local environment flourish. Here are our top tips on how you can help British honeybees.

Now we carefully remove the wax caps from the honeycomb so the honey is easy to extract.

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Honeybee Facts…

Scientists believe that bees first existed some

120 million years ago.

This was when plants were just beginning to develop their cleverest invention – the flower!

A honeybee in flight beats its wings

230 times per second!

Adult worker bees have a lifespan of approximately5weeks, those born towards the end of Summer live longer because they can survive the Winter by staying warm in the hives.

When scout bees find a good source of nectar or pollen they tell the other bees

of their discovery by doing a special dance on the honeycomb called the

‘waggle dance’.

Honeybees can tell the difference between colours but they see them in a different way to us. They cannot see red, but they can see ultraviolet which

is invisible to human eyes.

1.Grow Bee-Friendly plant species in your garden: Help bees and pollinators by growing a variety of flowers and shrubs that are full of nectar and pollen, to give them a rich feeding ground throughout the year. A garden full of plants that are rich in pollen and nectar will help your local bees thrive. Even potted plants on a balcony helps! The Royal Horticultural Society have created downloadable PDF lists of year-round flowering plants here – www.rhs.org.uk

2.Avoid using Pesticides: No one wants pests on their plants, but many pesticides can be lethal to bees. Cut out chemical treatments for your plants and NEVER spray open flowers. There are various natural treatments you can try to keep pests away from your garden such as companion planting and use of deterrents and barriers. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has some great tips on natural remedies to rid your garden of pests www.rspb.org.uk

3.Cut grass less often: Some councils in the UK have stopped cutting sections of grass on their verges to encourage wildflowers to grow! You can do this too by cutting your lawn less often and encouraging lawn ‘weeds’ to flower, creating more opportunities for honeybees to forage in your garden.

4.Provide water for pollinators: For bees, a supply of water is as important as pollen and nectar forage in the Summer. They work tirelessly foraging and can become dehydrated easily if they cannot find a source of water. You can help by setting up a clean, safe place for them to stop and have a drink. It can be as simple as a shallow bowl filled daily with fresh water with stones or twigs for the bees to land on safely.

5.Support your local beekeepers: Help reinforce sustainable and environmentally friendly beekeeping practices by supporting your local beekeepers. By buying honey locally you are not only supporting your local environment, you are helping increase the numbers of local hives and the overall local honeybee population. The honey also tastes so much better! Don’t limit yourself to honey, look out for candles, furniture wax and beauty products made using beeswax and honey from your local hives.

TopTips–HowYOUcan helpBritishHoneybees

GLPHoney PaleAleand BBQ & Jerk sauce

TastynewGLP

honeyproducts!

New to the table this Summer were GLP’s latest honey products – a delicious and refreshing honey Pale Ale and a mouthwatering duo of BBQ and Jerk Sauce! Both went down a treat at the annual UK G-Tour Charity Bike Ride in September.

Both products were a fantastic way to share the delicious honey that is harvested from the apiaries across the UK. GLP is contributing to building greater biodiversity across its sites by installing these apiaries, but not only that – we get to enjoy the resulting honey too! A great way to promote sustainable beekeeping at its best! Cheers!

HowweharvestGLPHoney…

First we collect the Super boxes from the hives, making sure to leave all the honeybees behind! These Super boxes are where the bees store their honey.

Look at all of that lovely GLP honey!

We then place the frames into the honey extractor. This machine uses centrifugal force to extract the honey as it spins around.

Here are the Supers with frames of capped honey ready to be harvested.

The top threats to UK honeybees are habitat loss, pesticides, pests and diseases, extreme weather and climate change and competition from invasive species. If we all do our bit to help our local honeybees we can make a big difference in their chances of survival and help our local environment flourish. Here are our top tips on how you can help British honeybees.

Now we carefully remove the wax caps from the honeycomb so the honey is easy to extract.

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INSIDE FOLDOUT – PAGE 4 INSIDE FOLDOUT - PAGE 5

FOLDFOLD

INSIDE FOLDOUT – PAGE 6 INSIDE FOLDOUT – PAGE 7

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G-BUZZG-BUZZ

Summer/Autumn 2020 I G-Hive Newsletter I Ed. 2

glp.com/eu/g-hive

G-Hive moves into Lutterworth

Summer diary of a Beekeeper HowweharvestGLPHoney 5 Bee Facts Top Tips NewProducts NewsfromEurope

We are very excited to share news of the arrival of honeybees at the third G-Hive Apiary site in Lutterworth! Two apiaries have been installed on site which currently house over 120,000 honeybees. The new tenants have settled in well and are on track to give us a small harvest of Summer honey!

Welcome to the SummereditionofG-Buzz, our quarterly newsletter bringing you all the latest developments from GLP’s UK network of honeybee apiaries.

Our apiaries are certainly a hive of activity over the Summer months. With the arrival of the new season our honeybees are preparing their hives for the influx of pollen and nectar. They build out wax onto the frames ready to store their honey and increase the size of their colonies in order to maximise their yields. The Queen is constantly laying eggs to keep numbers high and ensure a successful crop.

Our job is to manage the hives over the course of the Summer months. We’ll harvest honey from the hives once production starts to increase, keeping an eye on the weather to make sure enough honey is left in their stores for food if the rain persists. We keep a watchful eye on any predators – especially wasps who often rob honey from hives and damage the hives themselves.

Summer also brings swarming season – where honeybee colonies split from the hive due to congestion and overcrowding. One way we combat this is to always provide extra space in the hive when we feel the colony size is increasing. Another way is to suppress the swarm which means keeping an eye on new Queen cells (eggs) being laid which is a precursor to a swarm occurring. This is why regular visits to your apiaries are really important over the Summer months.

All four GLP apiaries have had a successful yield this Summer and we look forward to sharing this lovely golden nectar with you all!

G-Hive moves intoLutterworth!

Summer Diary of a Beekeeper

A big welcome to G-Hive in Poland where GLP has installed an apiary in Wroclaw (See images below). The team there have had a chance to check in on the hives and learn more about the fascinating world of honeybees!

Five honeybee colonies are also now in place at Saint Martin de Crau in Marseille, France. The hives were installed at the start of Summer and should start producing honey in 2021, with an average of 250,000 bees from March to September and a peak activity of 400,000 at the height of spring. Each bee forages 250 flowers per hour, only coming out during the day when the temperature is above 10°C. So in Spring, the apiary will ensure a daily pollination of 200,000 x 250 x 14 hours = 700,000,000 flowers within a radius of 3 km around the apiary!

The G-Hive apiary in Mönchengladbach is going strong with work about to start on bottling their Summer 2020 honey harvest! The apiary here is helping to increase biodiversity across the site and has had a brilliant start since its installation in April.

NewsfromEurope

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FRONT COVER PAGE 1BACK PAGE PAGE 8

FOLDFOLD

INSIDE PAGE 2 INSIDE PAGE 3

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