Biodiversi-bee at the Scottish Parliament

There’s a buzz around Holyrood

Photo Credit: Andrew Cowan, Scottish Parliament

Reflecting the land it represents, the Scottish parliament rises from the base of Arthur’s seat, emerging in the heart of the city as if surging out of the crags. Its low-lying buildings connect, like leaves growing from a branch, blending into their surroundings. Their roofs are positioned as if they might be an upturned boat on a Scottish dock, and covered with green grass.

From its inception, the Scottish parliament building at Holyrood was intended to not only become part of, but improve this area's biodiversity. In 2014, it became the first legislature in the UK to have beehives. Holyrood hosts eleven ‘Smith’ beehives, perfectly invented for Scotland’s climate, in the parliaments’ MSP garden. The bees thrive in their local environment, foraging for nectar among Holyrood parks’ wildflowers and collecting pollen amongst the native meadow grasses that have been incorporated into the parliament building infrastructure. Estimates suggest that there are around half a million bees in the grounds of the Scottish parliament during the summer. The success has encouraged the adoption of hives in parliaments across Australia and New Zealand. In Canada, thirteen beehives, one for each province and territory, now sit atop the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa.

Photo Credit: Andrew Cowan, Scottish Parliament

Holyrood's hives are managed by local family run business, Hoods Honey. As the hives have matured and the bee population has grown, parliament beekeepers have been able to harvest the honey produced, which is now bottled and sold in the parliament gift shop. Every beehive produces honey with its own unique colour and taste, making Holyrood’s honey all the more special.

“Be kind to the bees and the bees will be kind to you” – Stuart Hood, Scottish Parliament Beekeeper talking to Holyrood’s podcast, All About The Bees

All About the Bees - Scottish Parliament Podcast

The intricate and detailed process of honey production begins with ‘worker bees’, who fly to find pollen and nectar up to two miles away from their hives. As the bees forage, they use their long tongues to collect nectar from flowers, storing it in their ‘honey stomach’. When full, worker bees will return to the colony and offload their nectar to a ‘house bee’ in order to return to collecting nectar as quickly as possible. The house bee will transport the nectar to the heart of the nest, and deposit it in a hexagonal cell of the honeycomb. To store honey for winter, the bees will cap each hexagonal cell of their honeycomb with beeswax, which will keep their honey pure and fresh until they harvest it during winter.

Photo Credit: Andrew Cowan, Scottish Parliament

Beeswax, a natural by-product of honey, is an important element of the hive. Alongside honey, beeswax is harvested from honeycomb by bee-keepers and processed to be used as a natural resource. Since the reconvention of the Scottish parliament, beeswax is collected and used to seal every act of parliament once it receives royal assent, as well as the great seal of Scotland. Though honey and beeswax are useful, consumable products, honeybees’ ability to pollinate is their most important contribution to our environment. For a number of years, organisations such as Greenpeace and the WWF have been raising awareness of a decline in bee population globally. Honeybees perform about 80% of pollination worldwide. Without bees, we would be unable to grow and produce the majority of the world’s nutrition.

Photo Credit: Andrew Cowan, Scottish Parliament

In Scotland, the honeybee population is rising. As of June 2022, there were over 3,000 beekeepers looking after over 40,000 colonies according to BeeBase. The popularity of beekeeping, and Holyrood’s role in protecting Scottish honey bees through their Honey Bee Health Strategy is allowing Scotland’s bee population to thrive and grow. Encouraging biodiversity in Scotland and around parliament is just one aspect of the responsibility for our climate Scotland must take. Holyrood’s efforts to maintain their own hives, incorporating their natural by-products in Scotland’s legislation system itself is a sure sign of Scotland’s commitment to improving biodiversity. Scottish parliament beekeeper Stuart Hood reiterates: “If the bees go, we go.” Let’s keep them buzzing.