Hospital staff turn their hands to rooftop beekeeping

They may not be traditional patients, but 60,000 of them have arrived at a hospital and they still need caring for.

The extra demand is down to swarms of bees, and each year the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester calls in experts to remove them.

However, this year they have changed tack, with bee hives installed on the roof for staff to oversee in their spare time.

Christine Vickers, who works in critical care outreach, told the BBC: "I'm so excited to get involved in this, it sounds like such a lovely project."

Ms Vickers is one of six recently trained staff, assisted by the Romsey & District Beekeeping Association.

She added: "I absolutely love bees. I'm a beekeeper myself. I've been bee-obsessed my whole life."

Previously it was costly for the hospital to have the bees removed, and the decision to nurture them has presented new opportunities for staff.

Biomedical scientist Megan Hills, said she has always wanted to keep bees but never had the time.

"It's really exciting and nice to see we have a project like this at the hospital, both for the staff and everyone else," she said.

"I always think it makes you feel really happy when you just see them floating around, buzzing around, that low hum.

"It makes you feel really warm and summery."

She said the bees in the hive were "a lot calmer than I thought, I thought I was going to get stung".

She added: "I'll be begging them to let me come back."

Maintenance technician Jim Watson said: "We've had them about three weeks now.

"They're quite calm, they're definitely going out foraging, bringing stuff back [and] starting to produce honey, it's all going good."

The bees will be checked on every week, and any staff who want to get involved will be able to do so in their own time, the hospital said.

A new hive of 40,000 bees is due to be added, and there are plans to sell the honey gathered, with proceeds supporting Winchester Hospice.

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.