Mayo’s Native Irish Honey Bee Sanctuary nominated for European Bee Award
Inishturk conservation project has been recognised for its innovative use of smart hive technology
A pioneering Native Irish Honey Bee Sanctuary on Inishturk, has been nominated for the prestigious European Bee Award, an international competition recognising initiatives that protect pollinators and promote biodiversity.
The island-based conservation project has been entered in the Technology & Innovation category of the European Bee Award, in recognition of its innovative approach to protecting and monitoring the island’s bee population.
The sanctuary uses smart hive technology, including BroodMinder monitoring hubs, temperature sensors and real-time scales, to monitor the health and development of its Native Irish Honey Bees (Apis mellifera mellifera).
The technology allows the team to remotely monitor hive temperatures, humidity and weight fluctuations without disturbing the bees. The information provides an insight into honey flow and colony strength in real time.
The project is also making its live hive telemetry publicly accessible through its website, creating an open-data resource for researchers, academics, schools and citizen scientists to study colony and environmental data from the isolated Mayo island.
Dr Sean O’Connor, founder of the Native Irish Bee Sanctuary on Inishturk, said the project had been “exceptionally well” and that the technology was proving highly effective in helping to keep the hives healthy and secure.
“The sanctuary has been doing exceptionally well, and we’ve been incredibly pleased with how effectively the BroodMinder technology is working to keep our hives healthy and secure,” he said. “Most importantly, after all our hard work, we were able to celebrate our very first honey harvest this year.”
Dr O’Connor described the European Bee Award nomination as “a truly prestigious honour that spans all of Europe” and said it placed Ireland’s Native Irish Honey Bee conservation efforts firmly on the international map.
Inishturk’s isolated location off the Mayo coast provides an important natural advantage for the conservation project, helping to protect the Native Irish Honey Bee population from cross-breeding with non-native species and from major pests found on the mainland.
The European Bee Award is open to land managers, researchers and technology innovators across Europe, with the competition highlighting projects that contribute to pollinator protection and biodiversity.
The winners will be announced at an official ceremony in Brussels later this year.