Scilly’s hidden honey bees featured in BeeCraft

We’re delighted to see the Scillonian Bee Project, which B4 is proud to support and be involved with, featured in the September 2026 edition of BeeCraft.

The article, “Scilly’s hidden hives: A wild bee chase”, follows the latest stage of work investigating wild-living honey bee colonies across the Isles of Scilly.

For several years, the project has been building a better understanding of the islands’ honey bee population. Previous research had already raised some intriguing questions about just how many colonies might be living beyond the known managed apiaries.

This summer, Dr Ollie Visick from the University of Plymouth joined the project, working alongside B4’s Jilly Halliday and others on the islands to investigate further.

Using local knowledge, field observation and bee-lining techniques, the team set out to locate and sample wild-living colonies and learn more about the bees themselves.

It’s a lovely piece that captures both the science and the detective work behind the project, as well as the value of collaboration between researchers, local beekeepers and organisations working to better understand and protect our pollinators.

You can read the full story in the September 2026 edition of BeeCraft, where Stephen Fleming follows the team’s search for Scilly’s hidden hives.

The work is continuing too, with further results from the research still to come.

https://www.bee-craft.com/