A BEEKEEPER is “flabbergasted” as thieves made off with honey that took a year to make, but says he is grateful that “respect was shown for the bees” by the crooks.
David Allinson took up beekeeping as a hobby 20 years ago after taking a course with the Durham Beekeepers Association.
After starting with half a hive, he built up an apiary
of eight hives, producing heather honey for his family to enjoy. For most of the year the hives reside at his home, at Egglesburn, but for one or two months of the summer they are moved to a remote location on Eggleston fell so the bees can feast on the heather.
At the beginning of August, he tucks the hives behind a dry-stone wall for protection against the elements, away from a public footpath.
He said: “We take them to the moors so they are close to the heather. There have been years that we didn’t get honey but this year everything came together and it looked like a good year. The heather has been quite tremendous this year and we were expecting a bumper crop.”
However, when he went to check on the hives earlier this month, he found they had been tampered with.
Mr Allinson added: “I went back one day to look and they [the hives] were fine. But I went on Thursday (September 1) and they had taken the top boxes where the bees deposit the honey from the hives.”
The thieves removed all but one top box, replacing the covers to each hive. He said: “I got there and thought something was not right. I just couldn’t believe it. We are flabbergasted.
“There was a bridle path nearby, but it has never been a problem in previous years. Looking back, perhaps I have been a bit naive in thinking no one would interfere with the hives. There was only one top box they didn’t take as that didn’t have honey.”
Although Mr Allinson had not intended to sell the honey, he calculated the thieves made off with about 240lb, worth between £1,000 and £1,200.
He said: “We can calculate how much each hive will produce and we’d even brought a honey press in preparation for extracting this year’s crop.
“I reported it to the police and they’d never heard of honey being stolen before. In all the years I’ve kept bees I’ve never had the honey stolen either.”
He added: “They have been considerate thieves though. We did feel grateful that they had respect for the bees – they put the top covers back so the bees didn’t die, so they have been considerate in that way.
“But they came prepared. They had to have the right equipment to get the bees out of the top box.”
Mr Allinson has since transported the hives back to a fenced enclosure at his home.
He added: “I just need to find a new spot somewhere a bit more remote.”
His wife Janice added: “It is an awful thing to do. It’s downright mean. They have to have known that there was a year’s worth of work gone into caring for the bees.”
