Today is World Bee Day, and we are bringing you the story of how some Dublin Bus buds decided to take on a special project to help protect these precious pollinators!
The Ecolution podcast hears the brilliant story of how beehives came to be at the Dublin Bus Garage in Phibsboro - it's the story of Dublin Buzz.
We were there to meet Engineer Paul Grainger and Driver Irwin Bannon, who have transformed some waste ground into a literal hive of activity. It all started back in 2021, and this summer it will be home to over 250,000 native black bees.
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Paul tells us how it all began: "I first started around about seven years ago in Offaly. I did my course, got a little bit of experience and then here in Dublin Bus we had some waste ground down at the back of the site. I just thought to myself, you know under the biodiversity umbrella, this would be a good idea and a good way to utilise space that's vacant.
"I put it towards the management and they went for it. So they developed a bit of land down there, Irwin became involved and then between us then we started off with the two hives and then we built up what we have down there in the apiary now."
Ireland is home to about 100 different varieties of bee - 21 species of bumble bee, 78 solitary bees and, of course, the native Irish honey bee. Also known as the black bee, it is uniquely suited to our changeable weather patterns, lower temperatures and even the rain.
Irwin tells us how climate change affects everything: "The bees will only start their year according as the first flowers to come out. The dandelion is the main florage bounty year on year in Ireland. And the dandelion was a week late this year, but a week late is a lot to the bee because they only have X amount of weeks.
"Dandelions will be out here quicker than maybe Kildare, due to microclimates. So, it could be half a degree, but half a degree means a lot to the bee. So, it [climate change] plays a sizable role year on year. Like last year was great - the first month or so of last year was great. There was loads of sun and there was lots of rain.
"But the second part of the year from say maybe June, there was lots of sun for us, but there was no rain. Minimal amounts of rain. Flowers just didn't exude their nectar without the rain. So for the bees, the harvest wasn't as strong. The bees didn't have a bounty that they could rely on."
The lads advise any up and come and budding beekeepers to join their local beekeeping association. Each county would have their own association.
It may be one small step for two Dublin Bus employees to volunteer to keep bees at a garage, but they hope it creates enough of a buzz to inspire other businesses. Finding space for nature where you work and letting the world know initiatives like these can happen anywhere.
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