Our campaign to protect bees and promote community renewable energy

Back in 2017 the Naturesave Trust got involved in a project to use thermosolar beehives on a 4.5MW solar farm in Charlbury, Oxfordshire. The site is owned by a forward thinking community group called Southill Community Energy. One of their members, a beekeeper named Tom Worsley, had heard about a innovative new  beehive that used heat generated by the sun to eradicate a deadly parasite known as the varroa mite.  The hives were made in the Czech Republic and Tom became the first person in the UK to acquire a pair on behalf of Southill Community Energy. Once the hives were installed, the community group were so impressed they decided to expand the apiary and approached the Naturesave Trust for financial assistance to purchase another pair of thermosolar hives.

This groundbreaking project became the inspiration for The Solar Bee Project. The Trust was struck at the potential, not only to find a provable and effective (chemical free) cure for the Varroa parasite, but also the potential to establish solar farms as havens for biodiversity.