Zoe Moffatt
Woodend Bee Friendly Society has received a $1500 grant from the Macedon Ranges council for its honey bee swarm monitoring project.
Council voted to approve the small project grant at its meeting on Wednesday, May 24, with the money to be spent on bait boxes for the observation project.
Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group (MRSG) president Lenka Thompson said the grant shows the reach of the group and importance of the project.
“I’m absolutely delighted that the action group got the grant approval … I know they have worked very hard,” Ms Thompson said.
“It shows the extent of their reach and how important the project is… [and considering that] the welfare of bees has come to light recently.”
The project will conduct European honey bee swarm monitoring through the observation of bait boxes in designated areas during the spring, when swarming behaviours occur.
This will help the group to gain knowledge about swarming behaviours to inform environmental strategies protecting native flora and fauna.
Ms Thompson said the project is important to prevent diseased bees from contaminating other beehives.
“With this particular project … they’re really wanting to control honey bee swarms, as they can be quite hazardous,” she said.
“It’s more about contamination of bees that have a disease … if they’re not controlled they can contaminate other beehives.”
Project manager Jim Sansom said there has not been much research about the extent of this behaviour.
“We want to find out to what extent there are established wild or feral bee hives in the bush lands,” Mr Sansom said.
“We’re trying to find out what extent this is a problem … [and] see if we can accumulate some data and figures on what is happening … as there’s been very little study done about it.”
Mr Sansom said the project has raised almost $7000, which includes a $2000 grant from MRSG, a $3000 grant from Highways and Byways, and private donations.
For the project the society is also collaborating with the Woodend Men’s Shed to develop the bait boxes, which Ms Thompson said shows the project is grassroots and community led.
Mr Sansom agreed and said it has been terrific to get the men’s shed involved in the project.
