A West London beekeeping senior was upset after’stupid’ vandals destroyed his hives, releasing half a million bees and ripping a £10,000 hole in his decade-long pastime. In August 2022, retired cameraman Brian Mitchison, 82, came across scenes of horror at the Litten Nature Reserve in Greenford.
Brian had accumulated about 600,000 bees over the previous ten years after being introduced to beekeeping by a local group. He was able to extract honey after being granted permission to keep bees on the nature reserve, which he sold and gave free to locals. The bees also contributed to pollination in the reserve and woods that were protected from development in the 1980s.
However, when Brian returned to his hives last summer to check on the bees, he discovered that they had been utterly decimated. The 82-year-old, who is still recovering after a battle with lengthy Covid and the enormous cost of a rebuild, told MyLondon: “The whole thing was wrecked, and I almost gave up.” It took me ten years to get it where it is now and to do it correctly. All of the hives were turned upside down and separated.
“I’m not sure how they separated them; they would have been stung, but a lot of my bees are very docile because I don’t use chemicals on them.” I felt nauseous and horrified. How could someone do this? “I’m not sure what motivated someone to smash up a bunch of bees.”
A five frame nucleus (at least 15,000 bees) can cost £250, making beekeeping an expensive hobby. There’s also the cost of wooden bee hives, which may cost hundreds of pounds, as well as the honey Brian was unable to obtain due to the vandalism. He has so far raised £2,000 after asking for support on GoFundMe.
However, Brian, who has previously appeared in a music video about a bereaved beekeeper, claims that he is not the only beekeeper who has encountered buzz kills. It happened to another beekeeper in Greenford,” he explained. There are many thefts, and individuals steal them. Some hives have been lost by the local association. You’re trying to do good for others, and these jerks come along and destroy it.”
Brian chose not to inform the cops because there is no CCTV on the nature reserve and he believes he discovered the hives weeks after the incident. It would have been a waste of time in my opinion,” he remarked. I’m not even sure when it happened. I’m not sure how the cops could have intervened because there are no cameras on Litton Nature Reserve.”
Fortunately for Brian, a Queen bee may lay up to 1,000 eggs every day, which hatch in around three weeks. It means he’ll need roughly £5,000 to get the hives back up and running and restore his colony to where it was before the brutal attack. You may contribute to Brian’s fundraiser by clicking here.
