Meet The Sky Studios Elstree Bees
Imogen Redpath, Client Services Trainee
Meet The Sky Studios Elstree Bees
This winter, Sky Studios Elstree welcomed 40,000 new colleagues…bees! Cosy in four hives, the SSE bees are fully settled and in the expert hands of Beekeeper Robin Guest, who has been managing 30 hives at Pursley Farm for over 15 years.
Meet The Hives
Home to around 10,000 bees each, our four hives are expected to produce approximately 45kg of honey in their first year. While the bees are currently cosying down for winter (aren’t we all), each colony should grow to around 60,000 in the summer months, with the four queen bees laying up to 1,000 eggs a day. As the worker bees only live for 6 weeks during the summer (all that flying is very tiresome), it’s important she continues to grow the colony. It is highly likely that in three years’ time, the very same queen bees could be working here at Sky Studios Elstree with a colony three times the size, producing honey that is entirely unique to our site.
Why Sky Studios Elstree is Perfect for Bees
As a semi-countrified site surrounded by plenty of farmland, Sky Studios Elstree is perfectly situated a short flight path from pollen-rich food sources. Bees tend to forage within a 1–2-mile radius of their hive, so the proximity to local farmland means the bees can conserve their energy and focus on pollinating closer to home.
Our hives – located on a secluded, green area of the site away from production activity – host Apis Mellifera Mellifera, also known as the European Dark Honey Bee. The species has been native to Britain since the last Ice Age, proving them to be hardy in all weather conditions and expertly efficient at pollinating native plants and crops. So, the new hives don’t just benefit us; they contribute directly to the wider ecosystem. Without bees, the majority of plants would not survive – for centuries, bees and farmers have had a mutually beneficial relationship. We are delighted to be facilitating this, and we’ll take the extra healthy, extra beautiful flowers across site as a win.
A fun fact from our beekeeper Robin: eating local honey may help to reduce hay fever symptoms, especially if you start in February before pollen season begins.
How do we know our hives are healthy?
Robin will carry out regular hive inspections to keep our colonies healthy and productive. This involves checking the entrances for activity, pollen and food stores, and supplementing their feed if necessary. He will check that the queen is laying a normal amount of eggs, and will collect the honey to make sure that the hive doesn’t become overcrowded (honey-bound). A honey-bound hive is more likely to swarm – and swarms interrupting film shoots? Definitely not on the call sheet.
What Happens When the Queen Dies?
She’s spent her life building her colony, but it’s time to step down. When a queen bee dies, the colony can’t just appoint a new one. The hive detects her lack of pheromones after her death and immediately triggers a state of emergency. They select a few eggs and feed them a special, royal jelly – a nutrient-rich substance that gives the larvae the hormones needed to develop into queens. From these few, the strongest larva is crowned the new queen. So, for bees, there’s no such thing as democracy – leadership is in their DNA.
Sky Studios Elstree’s Signature Honey
To collect the honey, Robin sets up a one-way system that allows the bees out of the honey super and into a warmer brood chamber over the course of 24-48 hours. He can then harvest the honey without disrupting or stressing out the bees.
If, for whatever reason they do become agitated, Robin can use a smoker which burns organic materials in order to mask the bees’ alarm pheromones. On believing there’s a fire nearby, the bees instinctively calm themselves from the stress by gorging on honey. Much like why I keep a bar of chocolate under my desk.
Given that the taste and colour of honey depend entirely on the pollen that the bees forage, Sky Studios Elstree’s Signature honey will change colour with the seasons. In the Spring, it will be a lighter, milder honey, whereas by Autumn, the flavours will have grown in intensity, and the honey will be a deep amber.
What's next for the SSE bees
All going well, the SSE bee colony will continue to expand on site, and in 2027 we could have as many as eight hives producing close to 100kg of honey.
One thing’s for certain…Life is sweet.