Even in a place as populated and developed as southeast England, there are still ecological surprises waiting for those willing enough to be patient and wander far enough.
800,000 native honeybees, which some thought to be extinct, were found in ancient oak woodland at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. Experts said they could be the last remaining descendants of the British isle’s original forest honeybee populations.
If true, this would represent one heck of a second chance for the subspecies—because they are thriving.
A bee-keeping veteran with more than 40 years experience, Filipe Salbany, would end up finding 50 separate colonies of bees in the estate’s forest. The grounds have had no gardening activity and the property isn’t open to the public, so this has truly been a ‘rewilding’ area.
He’s convinced they belong to the subspecies that probably should be called ‘Ye Olde Englishe Bee.’
“A wild bee that has adapted to the environment is called an ecotype, and this bee could be a very precious ecotype—the first wild bee that is completely adapted to living in the oak forest,” Salbany told the Guardian.
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