During our latest visit to the hives, it was time to gather the honeycombs: the result of weeks of steady foraging across the surrounding areas. Much of the nectar came from the Linden trees, which have been in full bloom along Helsinki’s streets and parks during July.

The frames are now full, capped with wax, and ready for extraction. Soon, the honey will be spun out and jarred as a small, golden trace of the season, shaped by the bees and the landscape around Ruoholahti.

The hives at Accenture have been busy all summer, collecting nectar from city trees and flowers. They have been building up a sweet reserve of golden honey and now it’s time to start preparing for the sweet summer turning into autumn.

During the latest visit, the two colonies were combined to form one strong hive for the winter. While both hives had collected a good amount of honey, one had a smaller population, and by merging the two, we’re giving the bees a better chance to overwinter safely, sharing warmth and resources in one cozy colony. 🐝

This visit was the last sampling round of the summer. The honey samples we collect from the beehives contain eDNA from the plants visited by the bees on their foraging trips to the nearby nature. The samples tell us which plants the bees have visited and provide information about the biodiversity of the Ruoholahti area and the range of food sources available to the bees.

In the picture you can see wax honeycomb built by the bees. The bottom part of the comb is fresh nectar that still needs to be dried into thicker honey which the bees will seal into the combs with a wax cap as seen on the top part. By collecting the samples from the border between fresh and capped honey, we can be sure that the eDNA is from newly collected honey and represents the plants our bees have visited during the last couple of weeks.