Honeybees are making their home in the heart of Harrogate after new hives were installed on the roof of Victoria Shopping Centre. 

The move comes due to a partnership with Spa Bees, a Harrogate-based not-for-profit organisation dedicated to honeybee conservation. 

The purpose of the hives is to create a safe habitat for the bees, which play a crucial role in pollination and the overall health of the environment, promoting sustainability and enhancing biodiversity in the town centre. 

Stuart Gibson, of Spa Bees, said: 

“We were delighted to be contacted by Victoria Shopping Centre to install two beehives on the shopping centre roof. Bees will generally collect pollen within a one-mile radius of their hive, but they will travel farther afield, so there are plenty of trees and plants for them to tend to around the town centre and beyond.

“Developing this project, there are also plans to plant flowers in planters on the rooftop which will encourage more insects and pollinators to the area.” 

The beehives are expected to produce a significant amount of honey, and Spa Bees hopes to host a pop-up at Victoria Shopping Centre over the coming year to sell its honey. 

James White, centre manager of Victoria Shopping Centre, said: 

“We are thrilled to have partnered with Harrogate Bees. At Victoria Shopping Centre, we are committed to sustainability and eco-conscious practices, and the installation of these beehives aligns perfectly with our efforts to create a more environmentally friendly space for our community. 

“Through our collaboration with Harrogate Spa Bees, we are excited to engage and educate the public about the importance of honeybee conservation and the positive impact it has on our environment.” 

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Harrogate Borough Council will again leave sections of the Stray uncut this year to improve biodiversity.

In 2021, the council’s parks team left grass verges close to the roadside on West Park Stray uncut until late autumn.

The new look was welcomed by many who saw it as a sign that the council, which manages parks and green spaces, is serious about improving biodiversity and attracting bees, birds and insects.

But those who cherish Harrogate’s long reputation for organised and elegant planting said it made the town look untidy.

Others suggested the move was down to cost-saving reasons, which the council denied.

A council spokeswoman said this morning:

“We will be repeating what we did last year and will leave the bulb areas on the Stray uncut until September/October time.”

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New habitats friendly to bees and other pollinators will be created at Fewston, Swinsty, and Thruscross reservoirs.

The initiative is part of a Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust and Yorkshire Water project called Bee Together which aims to help pollinators thrive.

The idea is to create ‘pollinator superhighways’ that weave through the country and link existing wildlife areas together by creating and restoring wildlife patches rich in wildflowers.

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Six Yorkshire Water reservoirs — Fewston, Swinsty, Thruscross, Embsay, Grimwith, and Barden — have been identified as pollinator sites.

Yorkshire Water has provided £30,000 for the project.

Yasmina Gallagher, from Yorkshire Water, said:

“Conservation efforts and improving biodiversity are key parts of our work and often go hand-in-hand with our role managing water catchments.

“We’re pleased to be involved in the Bee Together project and have already identified six of our sites that will provide perfect habitats for pollinators.

“Our colleagues will be volunteering their time to carry out pollinator surveys, create action plans and deliver the habitat the bees require to thrive in our area.”

This year has seen a lively debate about the merits of leaving grass to grow in public areas such as the Stray, cemeteries or on roadside verges to benefit bio-diversity.

For three decades, Simon Warwick, director and trustee of the Lower Ure Conservation Trust, has been involved in a programme of activity focused on the churchyard at St John’s Church in the village of Sharow, where he lives.

The long grass close to some graves is part of a planned re-naturalising regime.

Mr Warwick, who has been honoured with an MBE in recognition of his lifelong work as a conservationist, told the Stray Ferret how re-naturalising is different from re-wilding:

“Today’s landscape is very different from the one our ancestors would have known .

“It is now largely a ‘tidy’ and ‘ordered’ landscape, of arable monoculture and species-poor grass in which wildlife, in many cases, struggles to thrive

Graves among the grass – some long, some short, is part of a planned and managed programme of re-naturalising

“Much of our native wildlife is adapted to a richer mosaic of habitat; a tapestry, a varied environment.

In the case of species-rich grassland, this is often a result of active management, reflecting traditional farming methods.

“In the case of the churchyard at St John’s, Sharow, the management follows that of a traditional hay meadow.

“We will cut the area on the summer meadow until early April, then let it grow, flower and largely set seed; only cutting it for hay in mid-July.

“Essentially it is allowed its ‘head’ for about 14 weeks of the year and after that mown short, with all the cuttings removed (essential to lower nutrient levels); this practice follows the tradition of early spring grazing, a hay cut and an ‘aftermath’ graze.”

“The end result is spectacular, with a carpet of wildflowers in May and June. Mr Warwick said it is always a little painful to cut it for hay, when it is alive with butterflies, bees and beautiful burnet moths.

“However, despite what seems like a damaging act, the cut and remove process is central to maintaining a species-rich are”So why is long grass often species-poor?

“The simple answer is that many species of wildflowers and grasses are easily shaded out, dead vegetation increases fertility, which in turn encourages rank species to grow.

“Sharow churchyard is special, the principle reason being that when the land was consecrated in the 1800s, it was almost certainly an established hay meadow.

“Irregular cutting and perhaps grazing by the Dean’s sheep will have maintained many of the old meadow species.  Having managed the churchyard in a traditional manner now for 30 years, it has duly been recognised for its importance on a county and national level.

“Whilst the summer meadow is in many ways the gem of the churchyard, the spring meadow is managed similarly but left to flower from early-March to the cut in late June, followed by regular mowing.  Spring is a riot of wild daffodils, bluebells, violets and wood anemones.

“Other areas, accommodating more modern graves, are cut perhaps every week to six weeks; other bits only once a year, or even longer.

“So, you may ask ‘which way is the right way?’   and the answer is that they sort of all are!

“We have lost the connection with the traditional mosaic of our natural and managed landscape; no real surprise that we have lost so much of our native wildlife.  We need to re-welcome a tapestry back into our landscape and be less ‘tidy.!”

Read more:

• Council accused of cutting costs instead of the the grass in Ripon
• Mixed views on re-wilding in Harrogate

Harrogate district residents may have noticed the town is looking different this year — as swathes of green spaces, including on the Stray, have been left alone by mowers and strimmers so nature can grow free.

‘Rewilding’ is one of the words of the moment, with councils across the country hoping to improve biodiversity and attract bees, birds and insects.

The new look in Harrogate has been welcomed by many, who see it as a sign that Harrogate Borough Council, which manages our parks and green spaces, is serious about improving biodiversity.

But others who cherish Harrogate’s long reputation for organised and elegant planting, believe it makes the town look untidy.

In the eye of the beholder

Shan Oakes from the Harrogate & District Green Party told the Stray Ferret that prim and proper Victorian-style floral displays can look old-fashioned.

In recent history, wildflower meadows have slipped into a dramatic decline as the species-rich grasslands are ploughed up for housing, farming and roads.

She said wildflowers will encourage pollinating bees as well as insects which can good food for birds.

“It’s excellent the council is thinking seriously about this from nature’s point of view.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn’t have to be a mess.”

“One or two people might think it looks untidy and not respectful. But isn’t it more respectful to be kinder to nature?

“If bees go, we all go.”

‘Very unattractive’

Alison Freeman lives near the Stray but said rewilding makes the town look “untidy and unsightly”

She said she fears broken glass and bottles lurking in the undergrowth which she believes poses a safety risk.

“It’s very unattractive and it has the potential to be dangerous. Beer bottles could get dumped in the long grass.I t’s unusable and I can’t walk on it.

She criticised Harrogate Borough Council’s approach to grass cutting this year.

“Don’t they care about the town? They are driving Harrogate down.

“The whole verge by the West Park Stray looks like the council hasn’t bothered to look after it.

“Bees are important, we are not anti-bee. But I haven’t seen any bees on the buttercups by the Stray”.

Read more:

• Wildflower planting starts on the Stray tomorrow
• Watch: Volunteers plant wild flowers on Harrogate’s Stray

Judy D’Arcy Thompson from the Stray Defence Association took a more balanced approach to the issue.

She called rewilding “a very emotive subject with passions running high both for and against the wilding”.

She added:

“Our Stray is arguably Harrogate’s most important environmental asset and of tremendous benefit to the whole area. Throughout the past difficult months during the pandemic it has been an amazing green sanctuary for everyone to use.

“It is essential to strike a balance between the need for safeguarding and enhancing its ecological role alongside its open and free use by people.”

Great news for wildlife

As well as letting some areas grow free, Harrogate Borough Council recently planted 5,500 wildflower plugs on two areas of the Stray near Leeds Road and York Place. They were helped volunteers from Bilton Conservation Group.

A council spokesman said the new biodiversity areas will provide habitats and green corridors for some of the 1,500 species of insect pollinators across the district.

He added:

“Residents and visitors may have started to notice that some areas of the Harrogate district are being left to grow and not mown. 

“This is great news for wildlife as the longer grass and wildflowers will provide food and homes for pollinating insects, as well as supporting our aim of reducing our carbon footprint.

“As well as leaving specific areas to grow and encourage biodiversity, we have also planted – with the help of volunteers – more than 5,000 wildflower plugs on specific areas of the Stray in Harrogate.

“We’ll be keeping an eye on how things progress and will be providing regular updates on social media channels.”