Flying Fleurieu FarmersNeil Charter finds out just why the humble bee is becoming increasingly important to our environmental future.

Photography by Neil Charter

Like a squadron of Spitfires, engines roaring; another group of bees track their way back from a nectar-gathering mission among the flowering gums of the Fleurieu woodlands. They fly laden with sweet spoils through the trees and over paddocks before commencing their descent into a sheltered hollow by a cooling creek where their home and hive awaits. This journey will be repeated many times over their short six-week lives as they serve only one purpose ... to keep their hive and queen alive. What happens while achieving that objective is not only one of the greatest gifts to nature, but also to mankind and the farming industry.

Leigh Duffield of Mt Compass in the heart of the Fleurieu is a Beekeeper (apiarist) of over thirty five years’ experience. Along with approximately sixty other South Australian Beekeepers, his influence and knowledge is critical to the future of farming and our environment. While his business, Nangkita Apiaries, produces up to 100 tonnes of honey in a good year, it is also critical to orchardists and farmers alike in assisting the necessary pollination of crops and fruit orchards. Some crops, such as almonds and lucerne are 100% dependent on this process, while apples and cherries are about 80% dependent. However, for it to happen successfully, timing,

temperature and conditions all have to be just right ... since it is estimated that up to 65% of Australia’s horticultural and agricultural crops are reliant on bee pollination.

Kneeling calmly by a hive with a few thousand bees buzzing, Leigh remarks, ‘To be a good beekeeper you need to think like a bee. You need to know the country, the weather, the seasons and where and when you can use your bees for best effect. That could either be for pollination or for making honey. The Fleurieu’s honey is respected not only nationally, but increasingly internationally as some of the finest honey available. The dry hot summers of the region produce a very dense, rich fragrant straw-coloured honey from local flowering Red, Pink and Blue Gums and a more robust heavily flavoured darker honey is produced in the Autumn from the local Stringy barks and Cup gums.’

Bees spend their short lives gathering nectar and pollen to sustain the Queen bee and the hive. The nectar (carbohydrate) stored in wax honeycombs is their energy source and the pollen (high in protein) is used to feed larvae. A few hours with Leigh as he goes about his work and you start to understand the fascinating but complex world of bees.

‘Bee social structure is incredibly well organised. The males (the Drones) are there purely to mate with the Queen. The Worker bees are all female and can travel up to 10 kilometres from the hive for nectar or up to 20 kilometres for pollen. The Queen can live for up to 2 years and as the first born she will kill off any rival Queens. She is fed special secretion made by the other bees known as Royal Jelly for the first 5 days of her life. Once mature she can lay >

Previous page: One of the Fleurieu’s flying farmers.Below left: Bees on the Canola. Photograph by Leigh Duffield.Below right: Leigh Duffield of Nangkita Apiaries.

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up to 2000 eggs a day. She lays these into brood cells, which are formed perfectly with 5 cells to an inch and a 6 degree slope to the horizontal so nectar will not run out. The optimum temperature for the brood is 35-37 degrees Celsius, and if things become too cool the bees will huddle together, or if too hot they will spit water out like an evaporation system. In hot weather one hive can use up to a gallon of water a week for cooling.’

But what of the future of our friendly, Fleurieu flying farmers?As he puffed smoke into the hive to settle his charges before inspecting, Leigh commented on how farming practice and clearing of traditional habitat for both feral and introduced bees has greatly increased the importance of the beekeeper. The future of successful pollination for cropping and native flora lies in maintaining healthy stocks of bees and keeping them working across our state. Across the world bees are facing troublesome times, not only with changing

farming practice and loss of both habitat and timely feed owing to monoculture cropping, but most particularly through the threat of the Varroa mite. This pest has devastated the bee stocks of Europe and is now in New Zealand … knocking at Australia’s door. The implications are significant. Taking our flying farmers out of the sky will not only seriously impact our bush as we know it, but also our rural industry. Biosecurity and access to new pastures so bee keepers can keep bees fat and healthy should be absolute priority into the future.

As I stood absorbed in these fascinating creatures and listening to Leigh’s passion and concern for bees I felt a burning sting on my neck by a Worker bee that had crept under my beekeeping veil. It was if to say we are serious about our future and you and others need to listen. It wouldn’t surprise me if the message had come from the Queen herself.

Top left: Queen Bee. Photograph by Leigh Duffield. Below left: Coming in for some nectar. Above right: Leigh checks the frames one by one.