It is a crisp winter morning and the area around Notre Dame is sealed off as it has been since the fire last April that devastated the cathedral. The urban honey bees, of the Brother Adam Buckfast variety, were developed for their mild temperament in the 1920s by a Benedictine monk. The Notre Dame hives were installed on the cathedral roof in 2013 as a gesture to promote biodiversity. Photograph: Courtesy of BeeopicMoulin, who normally visits each hive at least once a month, hopes to remove the queens from the three Notre Dame hives this summer and replace them with younger royals. The queen bees can live for five years, while their worker bees have a lifespan of around 45 days.

Source: The Guardian January 31, 2020 06:00 UTC