School acquires Bee Hives

Dunottar School has bought two beehives after being approached by Vince Gallo, who is completing a PhD about the formation and use of honeycombs at Queen Mary University of London.  

The retired software engineer attempted to build a software bee and realised that there was more to be learnt about the detailed behaviour of bees. This triggered his decision to develop his 10-year hobby of avid beekeeping into a Phd.

Vince, now a weekly visitor to the school, keeps control hives for his experiments at Dunottar, and these sit behind Dunottar’s hives.

Dunottar’s Head of Food and Nutrition, Ruth Macintyre, has started a beekeeping club, which gives the students a chance to work closely with the bees and to harvest Dunottar honey.

She said: “Bees are an absolutely fascinating insect, and I know that the students are going to love learning more about them. I know I have! We are extremely lucky to have the help of Vince to set up the project and guide us through the first season.”

Deputy Head Marc Broughton added: “The bee keeping is part of a bigger outdoors project that we’re developing at Dunottar. As well as willow sculptures in the grounds, we’ve recently put the finishing touches to an outdoor classroom.”