Someone was After the Queen's Bees

[josbees]

Thieves plunder royal beekeeper’s hivesPolice are questioning beekeepers after as many as 500,000 bees were stolen from a farm, it emerged yesterday.

a total of 11 hives owned by royal beekeeper Murray McGregor are believed to have been taken at night by thieves with specialist knowledge of bees. The hives, said to be worth £5000 and quite rare in Scotland, were stolen from Learilaw Farm near Broxburn in West Lothian.

The theft comes as a crisis in beekeeping - caused by the decline in honeybees - is forcing up the cost of bees and honey.

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Mr McGregor runs Den- rosa Honey and keeps 250 hives on the Balmoral estate. Most of the stolen bees would have been taken to Balmoral in July to make the royal honey.

He said: "You would need specialist knowledge to do this so it would have to be a beekeeper. This kind of thing makes you paranoid about the safety of your bees and everybody gets nervous when there's a bee thief about."

The distinctive hive, called the Langstroth, is used mainly by commercial beekeepers.

Nigel Hurst, the president of Edinburgh and Midlothian Beekeepers Association, said: "Unfortunately this type of theft appears to be happening up and down the UK."