As part of their sustainability and biodiversity initiative, Multrees Walk is home to four thriving beehives hosting over 250,000 honeybees.
Urban beekeeping, as it’s known, aims to address the decline in bee populations while encouraging environmental regeneration within city setting communities. Multrees Walk, alongside Scottish sustainable honey business, Webster Honey, is not only contributing to this bee conservation but also creating educational opportunities for schools to learn more about the importance of urban bee keeping.
Leigh Aitchison, Centre Manager from Multrees Walk said: “We are obviously well known for being home to some of the world’s most famous designer brands, but we are also proud to be home to over 250,000 honeybees.
Perched high on the roof, Multrees Walk provides the perfect setting and a safe environment for the bees. The bees can fly up to three miles, with Princes Street Gardens, Holyrood Park, Inverleith Park and the Meadows all easily accessible from the roof of Multrees Walk.”
To celebrate World Bee Day, (today, 20 May) Multrees Walk invited pupils from nearby Leith Walk Primary School to find out more about urban bee keeping from Webster Honey. The school children started with a short talk about the importance of bees to our ecology, the threats they face, their life cycle and a bit about how beekeepers care for them.
The pupils then donned beekeeping suits to get up and close personal to the bees, trying to spot the queen bee and learning how much work a worker bee has to do to make one jar of honey.
Meik Molitor, Head Beekeeper at Webster Honey said: “I absolutely love getting to teach children about honeybees – how important they are to our ecology and how much we need them for our food.
“But the best thing is seeing their reaction when I open the hive and how they get really engaged and involved with actually tending the hive.
“Bees thrive in a number of areas and do just as well in urban settings as they do in rural locations. By integrating rooftop apiaries into our shopping centres, we are building a deeper connection between people and the natural world.”
Honey from the hives is collected once or twice a year (after the summer months) to make delicious jars of honey.
Each hive can produce on average 20-25kg of honey (90 – 110 jars) each year but Webster Honey nly take the extra honey, leaving enough to feed the bees through the winter months.
For further information on Multrees Walk retailers, please visit:
www.multreeswalk.co.uk/whats-happening/
For further information of Webster Honey please visit:
Photo credit: Julie Howden