WHAT'S it all about then - this thing called bee-keeping? Is it the hum of a summer day, an occasional sting, or simply "Is there honey still for tea" ?

Sit down for an hour with Teme Valley honey farmer Richard Jackman and the brain is soon buzzing with the most amazing story of an intelligent, hardworking little creature who makes a valuable contribution to the food chain; not just in honey, but in terms of pollination too, writes Jen Green.

Defra estimates that every colony of bees produces £800 of pollination and for every pound of honey produced, farm and horticulture benefit by £40. Moreover a good colony collects £700 worth of honey - of which 100 per cent is harvested by the beekeeper - and this, multiplied by 40, gives a benefit of £28,000 per colony.

Mr Jackman has been around bees for 40 years, since he was a boy, and what he doesn't know about them could be written on a speck of pollen.

He is chairman of the Worcestershire Association of Beekeeping. Shropshire also has a society and Ludlow has its own thriving group.

Mr Jackman said: "These days most people enjoy the great outdoors and have noticed these days there are fewer bees around. Some might even be tempted to say 'good thing too, they sting don't they?'

"But this overlooks the valuable contribution bees make to the food chain, in terms of pollination, not just honey production."

So where have all the bees gone? Well, it's all down to the Varroa Destructor, the parasitic mite of the Indian bee, which has crossed over to Europe.

Mr Jackman explained: "Over the millennia, the Indian bee has evolved its own strategies to cope with the mite, but the European bee has not and the only way to keep a colony alive is to treat it with a varroacide until breeding can produce immunity. The result will be anybody's guess."

It's a spring start for the busy bee.

They suss out the strength of nectar from two miles away, work out a plan of action, and calculate the maximum weight need to carry it back to the hive, even if it means more trips. Harvest is in July - heather gets an extra month - after which the drones mate with the queen bee, and then die.

Pam Collier's son Michael runs Corn Brook Bee Farm at Nash. Pam is besotted with bees.

"As well as a good healthy food product, honey has wonderful healing properties, especially for cuts, grazes and burns," she says.

In July the farm is having an open day for people keen to know more.

"The bee all and end all is, the hive revolves around the Queen Bee, it's down to her activity, mood swings and sexual appetites that things running smoothly," Richard Jackman added.

More information on bee-keeping in the Ludlow area is available from Tony Easteal on 01584 890830 or Richard Jackman on 01886 821237.