Beekeeper, 82, loses 500,000 bees after vandals attack hive
Brian Mitchison says there is £10k of damage to the hive at Litten Nature Reserve in Greenford, west London.
An elderly beekeeper has been left devastated after vandals caused £10,000 worth of damage to his hive by letting 500,000 bees loose.
Retired cameraman Brian Mitchison, 82, had amassed some 600,000 bees at the Litten Nature Reserve in Greenford, west London, since he began his hobby 10 years ago.
The bees helped pollinate the reserve and woodland, while Mitchison harvested the honey which he sold and gave away to locals.
But last summer he found his hives had been completely destroyed, with the half a million bees living in them gone.
Mitchison told MyLondon: "The whole thing was wrecked and I almost gave up. It took me 10 years to get it where it was and do it properly. All the hives were tipped upside down and pulled apart…
“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."
Mitchison decided against calling the police as there is no CCTV on the nature reserve – and he thinks he found the hives weeks after the crime.
He said that other beekeepers in the area have lost hives, adding: “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."
The cost of the hives and hive frames, as well as the lost income from the honeys Mitchison was unable to harvest, has put the estimated cost of the act of vandalism in the thousands.
The pensioner has now set up a fundraiser, which has so far amassed over £4,000 in donations, to help restore the hives.
He says he needs around £5,000 to help get the hives back in action and to get his colony back.
