Help SLU find wild honey bee colonies this summer

This year, SLU is continuing last year’s appeal to the public and beekeepers to report sightings of wild honey bee colonies. This is part of the European project Free-B.

“Considering that we launched the appeal rather late in 2025, we received a fairly good response from the public. Reports came in from southern Skåne all the way to Umeå. During spring 2026, we will follow up on some of these to record survival, but we would very much like to receive more reports,” says Joachim de Miranda, researcher at SLU and coordinator of the Swedish part of the Free-B project.

Images and videos

Most people who submitted reports included images and videos. This makes it easier to confirm that the insects are indeed honey bees and not wasps or other insects.

“Those who reported in 2025 clearly know their bees! Most reports concerned honey bees living in hollow trees. Bees that settle in chimneys, walls or roofs are often removed so as not to cause problems. However, bees living in trees and a bit further away from people are usually allowed to remain, as long as they do not cause disturbance,” says Joachim de Miranda.

An important pollinator

The European honey bee, Apis mellifera, is part of our native fauna and has played an important role in both nature and cultural history. Today, however, wild populations are severely threatened – if they still exist at all. Almost the entire genetic heritage is now preserved within managed beekeeping.

“Honey bees are unique pollinators – they are active from early spring to late autumn and can meet the large-scale pollination needs of agriculture. Understanding and preserving their natural ability to survive is crucial for both biodiversity and food production,” says Joachim de Miranda.

Where might wild honey bees be found?

A wild honey bee colony often lives in a cavity several metres above ground, with a small entrance. This could be in an old tree, a rock crevice, a wall or a chimney. On sunny days, activity is often visible at the entrance – bees flying in and out, and guard bees standing watch.

“It is particularly valuable to find more wild colonies far from managed apiaries, as this may indicate an entire population of wild colonies surviving independently,” says Joachim de Miranda.

How do they survive?

One of the key questions the project seeks to answer is how wild populations cope with the Varroa mite, a parasite that spreads deadly viral diseases. It originally came from Asia and was first detected in Sweden in the 1980s. Typically, affected colonies die within a few years unless beekeepers control the mite.

“We know that honey bees can survive with the Varroa mite for extended periods under certain conditions. We have observed this in our research on a population of colonies on Gotland. However, we do not know how common such wild populations are or how they fare in the long term,” says Joachim de Miranda.