Growing numbers of city dwellers getting a buzz out of keeping bees

The survey found that each hive produced on average 32lb of honey, worth around 130 to the beekeeper, but the value to the wider economy of pollination by honeybees was worth more than 600 per hive.

The BBKA said its members had increased the number of bee colonies by 50 per cent this year - up from 80,000 to 120,000 since March, while its membership had also swelled, with a near 100 per cent rise over the last three years to just under 20,000 amid a growing interest in in beekeeping.

The rise is particularly noticeable in towns and cities, almost a third (31 per cent) of new beekeepers being based in urban areas – urban beekeepers overall make up less than a quarter (23 per cent) of BBKA members.

Across towns and the countryside, two-fifths of beekeepers which responded to the survey had taken up the craft in the last two years, BBKA president Martin Smith said at the opening of the National Honey Show.