Humble hero helps rescue bees

Dodging red-belly black snakes, pecan farmer Blake Shiel braved the rising floods to help rescue two dozen beehives.

He’d probably tell you it wasn’t as sensational as all that, but it was hugely heroic to the twelve bee colonies that he saved and the Trust that he leases his land from.

“Gretchen Wheen was a pioneer in artificial queen bee insemination,” Mr Shiel said.

“And she was the first person to bring European honey bees to Australia.

“There are about two dozen hives, that’s two dozen colonies of bees living on the land.”

So, when the waters began rising, Mr Shiel jumped in to help get these very important bee colonies to safety.

He said it had to be done because if the hive is damaged or destroyed, the colony gets broken up and scattered and you have to start all over again with the queen bee.

Honey bees are great pollinators because they flit around from flower to flower gathering nectar for their young to feed on.

If you’re still wondering about the red-belly blacks, Mr Shiel said he sees a few of them on the farm and they were just doing their best to escape the floods as well.

• Topics:

• Floods
• People