Bee Conservation on Golf Courses: Sustaining Colony Health Through Winter
As autumn turns to winter and the chill sets in, it’s easy to forget that pollinators are still hard at work, or in the case of honey bees, preparing to survive until spring. Ben Morgan BSc (Hons) MBPR FQA, DLF Technical Manager (& Bee Conservation Specialist) is passionate about helping golf courses play their part in bee conservation. DLF's work with wildflowers, pollinator habitats, and on-site hives demonstrates that even highly managed landscapes can support thriving bee populations.
By Ben Morgan BSc (Hons) MBPR FQA
The Overwintering Process - Nature’s Teamwork at Its Best
Whenever I mention that I keep bees to clients, one of the first questions people usually ask at this time of year is:
What do the honey bees do in winter?
Honey bees differ greatly from solitary insects such as wasps, bumblebees, hoverflies, and hornets because they overwinter as a colony unit – a true superorganism. The colony naturally reduces from around 60,000–80,000 bees in summer to about 10,000–20,000 in winter. This smaller winter population forms what’s known as the cluster – roughly the size of a small football or melon.
Image 1 - Winter in farm apiary
Image 2 - Autumn entrance activity on a warm day (16℃)
Image 3 - Full frame of bees in the summer
The queen remains at the centre of the cluster, kept warm and alive by worker bees that continuously move to regulate the hive’s internal temperature. In the cluster’s core, the temperature is maintained at a toasty 34–35°C, allowing the colony to survive the cold UK winters and rebuild in spring, ready to swarm and reproduce.
Image 4 - Queen bee with yellow mark (born 2022)
Image 5 - Diagram of show structure and thermodynamics of the winter cluster
When you think about it, bees have it sorted over winter – they have a cosy wooden house with a solid roof, central heating set to around 34–35°C, plenty of stores and food, and NHS healthcare from yours truly. It’s not a bad life being a York bee!
Beekeeping Top Trumps
The honey bee is also equipped with some impressive “technology” that the MOD would be proud to have at their disposal. For a bit of fun, I put together a Top Trumps-style comparison between the humble honey bee and the world’s most advanced 5th-generation fighter jet:
| Feature | UK Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) | F-35B Lightening II |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Nature's pollinator and ecological engineer | Fifth-generation stealth jet fighter |
| Top Speed | ~20 mph (32 km/h) | ~1200 mph (1930 km/h / Mach 1.6) |
| Scaled-Up Equivalent Speed | If the bee were F-35 size, it would reach roughly 3400 mph (Mach 4.5) - faster than any jet built! | - |
| Efficiency | Runs on nectar - 100% solar-powered | Consumers 5600 litres of jet fuel per hour |
| Load Carrying Capacity | Carries 85% of its body weight in pollen/nectar | Carries 6800kg of ordnance (~15% of it's total mass) |
| Weaponry | Stinger, group attacks, attack pheromone (Isopentyl Acetate - it smells like bananas) | Missiles, bombs, 25mm canon. |
| Manoeuvrability | Can hover, reverse and roll mid-air effortlessly | STOVLcapable but relies on complex flight systems |
| Stealth | Perfect floral camouflage | Radar cross-section the size of a golf ball |
| Navigation | Polarised vision and waggle dance GPS (accurate to within 1m2) | GPS, inertial guidance unit, radar and infared sensors |
| Environmental Value | Pollinates one-third of global crops | Emits CO2 and noise pollution |
| Cost per Unit | Free | £80-100 million |
| Maintenance | Self-repairing, self cleaning and self replicating | Needs hangars, technicians and spare parts |
The weaponry, navigation systems, load-carrying ability, and sustainable fuel type make the honey bee something any air force would be proud to deploy!
Autumn and Winter Beekeeping Tasks
After harvesting the last of the honey in September (yum yum), the beekeeper’s focus shifts to preparing colonies for winter. We don’t tend to get harsh winters these days, but that can cause addiction issues because when it’s mild, bees keep active, eat through their stores, and don’t hibernate – leading, in some cases, to starvation.
The main autumn/winter tasks include:
- Installing wasp traps and reducing hive entrances
- Treating bees for Varroa mites
- Feeding colonies with sugar syrup
- Adding mouse guards to hive entrances
Eating mince pies… sorry, thought that was my shopping list
Wasps
Wasps have been a real challenge this season. I don’t actually mind them – they play a role as natural pest controllers by preying on aphids, caterpillars, and other garden pests. In specific studies in New Zealand, social wasp colonies were found to consume between 1.4 and 8.1 kg of invertebrates per hectare each season in temperate climates. How about that for biological control of pests!
However, they can also be a huge nuisance. Each year I usually lose a few nuc’s (small six-frame hives) and one to three full colonies to wasp attacks, depending on whether it’s a bad or good year for them.
If left alone without intervention, a colony can be cleared of stores and attacked in around 1-week. The results are loss of colonies and a mass of dead bees and wasps on the ground from the battle – not a pretty sight!
The best two-pronged strategy I’ve found is to reduce the hive entrance to just a couple of bee spaces (10–20 mm) and place wasp traps around the apiary. These traps are baited with a water, jam, and vinegar solution – very effective, though a bit harsh for the wasps! I also keep the colonies well fed so they don’t have to forage as much and can concentrate on keeping the wasps out.
Image 6 - Entrance reduced down to a minimum