Pensioner loses 500,000 bees after vandals destroy his beehives

A beekeeper was left distraught after vandals ripped apart his beehives and managed to release half a million bees.

Brian Mitchison stumbled across the carnage at Litten Nature Reserve in Greenford, west London, back in August 2022.

The 82-year-old has now set up a fundraiser after the devastating incident.

Brian said: ‘I felt sick and really horrified. How could somebody do this? I can’t understand what motivated someone to smash up a load of bees.

‘The whole thing was wrecked and I almost gave up. It took me ten years to get it where it was and do it properly. All the hives were tipped upside down and pulled apart.

‘I don’t know how they pulled them apart, they would have got stung but a lot of my bees are very docile because I do not put chemicals on them.’ 

Brian had amassed 600,000 bees over the last 10 years and harvested honey which was sold to local people.

The bees helped the local reserve and woodland which was saved from development in the 1980s.

Bee keeping is an expensive hobby with a five frame nucleus (at least 15,000 bees) costing £250 each.

Brian also lost money from the honey which he was unable to harvest and the cost of the wooden beehives which go for hundreds of pounds.

He’s so far raised £3,702 from his GoFundMe page which was set up last week.

The pensioner says he’s not the only one to fall victim to vandals.

He added: ‘It’s happened to another beekeeper in Greenford. There’s lots of thefts and people steal them. The local association has lost some hives. You’re trying to do good for people and this idiots come along and smash it up.’

At the time Brian decided against calling police because there is no CCTV on the reserve.

He needs around £5,000 to kickstart the hives back into action and get his colony back to its original number.

Donations can be made to Brian via his GoFundMe page.

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