G-BUZZSpring/Summer 2020 I G-Hive Newsletter I Ed. 1

Visit: gazeley.com/g-hive/Follow us: twitter.com/Ghive_Gazeley

G-HIVE APIARY HAS SWARMED TO NORTHAMPTON!

MEET THE HONEYBEE MAN

SPRING HIVE UPDATE

G-HIVE PRODUCT UPDATE

Why are we so passionate about bees?While to most people they are fuzzy flying insects we see darting between flowers, bees are actually so much more than this, and have a hugely important part to play in maintaining our precious planet.

Bees are vital to both pollinate the food we need to survive and pollinate many of the trees and flowers that provide habitats for wildlife.

Globally there are more honeybees than other types of pollinating insects, which makes it the world’s most important pollinator of food crops. It is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bees.

Here at Gazeley we recognise the importance of honeybees and are dedicated to creating, sustaining and maintaining thriving habitats for them across our UK sites.

At the moment, each colony in Northampton has approximately 15,000 honeybees

Welcome to G-BUZZ, our quarterly newsletter bringing you all the latest developments from Gazeley’s network of honeybee apiaries...

G-Hive Apiaryhas swarmed to

G-Park Northampton!We are very proud to announce the arrival of honeybees at the second G-Hive Apiary site in G-Park Northampton

NEWG-HIVEAPIARY

Andre Cardona — Gazeley’s resident beekeeper (aka The Honeybee Man) installed four colonies of honeybees in hives on a quiet evening in early April.

The honeybees have settled in well, enjoying the warm Spring weather and have already started collecting local pollen. A fantastic start!

At the moment, each colony in G-Park Northampton has approximately 15,000 honeybees — once all the hives and colonies are settled in, Gazeley’s G-Park Northampton tenants will have 60,000 productive new neighbours! As the season gets going this number will increase even further — colony numbers can increase up to a staggering 80,000 honeybees per hive in the Summer months.

This apiary was designed in partnership between Gazeley and The Honeybee Man and is part of a new initiative where each new site built in the UK will include a custom built apiary.

The design includes screening which not only keeps the public safe and away from the hives but also encourages the honeybees flight path vertically. It also includes a gravel base to avoid damp issues in cooler months and soon to arrive, landscaping with flowering plants for the new honeybee tenants.

Meet the Honeybee Man

The Queen has started laying more eggs and worker bees feed the larvae pollen and honey helping them grow into an adult bee. Our job in Spring is to make sure the honeybees have the optimum conditions in order to build strong healthy colonies. We sterilise and clean the hives, and remark the Queen Bee (maybe the old Queen has been superseded by a younger Queen). We also heft the hives — this is when we lift the hives to check their weight, this indicates whether they have enough food stored in the hive to keep them going until pollen and nectar is more plentiful.

Lastly, we do any essential repairs to hives, check our equipment is all in working order and generally getting prepared for the season ahead. Milton Keynes apiary has had a good start to the season, we’ve hefted the hives and made sure the colonies have all they need. The bees have overwintered well and we look forward to another bountiful honey yield in 2020.

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Andre started beekeeping as a teenager at boarding school and was fascinated by the British honeybee and its habits. Since 2005 he has managed and tended to his own honeybees, selling delicious honey to local outlets and making a name for himself collecting swarms and relocating colonies. He has been known to be found at the top of a cherry picker, delicately cajoling bees from tops of chimneys, much to the delight of locals watching!

More recently Andre has been working alongside Gazeley to introduce British Honeybees to their sites across the UK. Andre’s extensive knowledge and passion for beekeeping is infectious and he is proud to be introducing more and more people to the importance of honeybees to our environment.

Andre says: “We are passionate about the survival of the British Honeybee and feel extremely privileged to be working with team Gazeley on their G-Hive project. We share an important goal with them to protect, increase and conserve biodiversity across their many sites in the UK. We’re excited to introduce honeybees back into the land via a network of apiaries, as well as nurture the surrounding environments to give them a better habitat in which to live and thrive on. We feel fortunate to have found a partner who is dedicated to the plight of the British Honeybee and have placed sustainability firmly at the heart of their business.”

Honeybee colonies are at their weakest coming out of Winter so the beginning of Spring is all about the colony building up its numbers.

Spring diary of a bee keeper

G-Hive Product Showcase

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01 I G Bee Gin — Honey Gin

02 I Bee Safe Bee Kind — Hand sanitiser

03 I G-Hive — Natural Honey

04 I G-Hive — Honey Beer

The distillery we worked with to create the gin has now made Gazeley’s very own alcohol sanitiser, again using Gazeley’s natural honey.

Honey is well known for its antibacterial properties, but most importantly lends a little extra moisture to the sanitiser to help keep your hands from drying out. Made with 70% alcohol and infused with honey and extracts of green tea — this sanitiser has been distributed to live construction sites and offices across UK and Europe.

Enforced isolation during April has given us all cause to pause and while tending the apiaries we’ve noticed more and more wildlife out and about enjoying the more tranquil surroundings.

Over at Magna Park Milton Keynes we’ve spotted swans, red kites, foxes and even wild deer sunning themselves on the grassland!

You will no doubt be familiar with G Bee Gin — Gazeley’s very own honey gin. This London Dry gin was created using a unique blend of botanicals and infused with Gazeley’s own natural honey harvested from the Milton Keynes apiary.

Bee Safe, Bee Kind —Gazeley Alcohol Hand Sanitiser

Gazeley have also kindly donated 5 litre tubs of sanitiser to Lutterworth Share & Care, a dementia care charity based close to Magna Park site in Lutterworth. This will be used to help keyworkers at the facility maintain a safe and healthy work environment for all.

Spotted in Magna Park Milton Keynes!

Our colleagues in Germany have welcomed their very first Bee Hotel at their logistics hall in Mönchengladbach.

The apiary is managed by the team at Bee Future and was put in place in mid April to take advantage of the Summer ahead — they expect an initial yield of 15kg of honey in their first season. This is another great example of Gazeley investing in maintaining and building biodiversity on their sites.

Gazeley Germany welcomes first honeybees!

G-BUZZ G-Hive Newsletter

5 bee facts

Did you know a Queen Bee lays on average 2,000 to 3,000 eggs per day?

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Worker Bees make up 99% of a honeybee colony — all worker bees are female.

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A honeybee can visit between 15-20 single flowers in one minute when visiting a cluster of rapeseed flowers.

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Over the course of one day, a colony of bees can make over 150,000 trips to flowers to gather nectar and pollen.

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To make a single spoonful of honey, between 4 and 7 honeybees must work full time for an entire season of nectar collection.

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Picture Diary We’ll show you how we harvest honey from the G-Hive apiaries

Product launches Watch this space for new honey related product launches

G-Hive expansionInto new UK Gazeley sites

Top TipsHow YOU can help the British Honeybee

Coming up in theSummer Newsletter!

Visit: gazeley.com/g-hive/Follow us: twitter.com/Ghive_Gazeley