Work started this week on first phase of the project - building our new maintenance yard for the park. Once the new yard is ready we will be able to move the park maintenance equipment and machinery out of the stable yard so that the renovation work can begin.
The maintenance yard is being built next to the apiary. The apiary is used by Wimbledon Beekeepers’ Association and usually has about 30 hives. Some of the hives were moved to another part of the park back in February, when the bees were less active but the rest will stay where they are during the building work.
Peter the beekeeper was on site on the first day to reassure the builders. He assured us that the bees won’t be bothered by the building work, although apparently they are attracted to strong smells so the builders have been advised not to wear aftershave. Must be the Lynx effect…
Wednesday morning saw one of the builders donning a bee suit so he could go into the apiary and erect a 3m high fence made of netting and scaffolding poles. This will separate the builders from the bees and mean that instead of flying straight through the building site, the bees will fly over the fence and keep flying at that height until they reach the flowers.
