The amazing story of M&S honey
Pollinators, such as bees, are vital in producing our food. Wild bees, including bumblebees, are also in decline. We are working to protect wild pollinators as well as introducing millions of honeybees to our British M&S Select Farms to make some very special honey. Follow the story of these very busy bees, meet our beekeeper, learn how you can support bumblebees and find some recipe inspiration from the one and only Tom Kerridge.
Show me the honey
Back in 2021, we put more than 600 beehives – which are home to 30 million bees – on 25 British M&S Select Farms. This operation has now grown to more than 1,000 beehives across 30 British M&S Select Farms. These busy bees are helping us produce our exclusive Collection Single Apiary Select Farm British honey. Because we are harvesting from different farms, where the bees have foraged on everything from cherry trees to courgettes, the honey comes in lots of different colours and unique flavours.
Honeybees are important pollinators. By introducing British honeybees to M&S Select Farms, we’re supporting local British honey production and our Select Farms to pollinate their crops. Our work with honeybees is only part of the story.
Meet beekeeper David
Experienced beekeeper David Wainwright has been producing top-quality honey for M&S for more than 10 years. After visiting the M&S Select Farms, David and his teams placed their cedarwood beehives – many of which date back to the 1930s – in carefully chosen locations, ensuring they have plenty of shelter and sources of nectar nearby. “The farms grow crops that benefit from the bees, including courgettes, apples, berries, beans and more. The farmers get a higher yield and better quality, since the plants will have been properly pollinated,” says David.
How is the honey made?
Each hive has ‘scout’ bees that find the best sources of nectar and pollen from which to forage. Because the farms are so diverse, these could range from dandelions to apple and pear orchards, bluebell woods, sycamore and hawthorn trees, cherries and gooseberries, blackcurrants and beans – all of which will give each honey its own distinct flavour profile. The bees gather their nectar and bring it back to the hives and start filling honeycombs. In the evening, they use their wings to fan the nectar, evaporating moisture and concentrating the liquid to make honey.
Recipe inspiration from Tom Kerridge
Feel the buzz from our fabulous Tom Kerridge recipes featuring Collection Single Apiary Select Farm British honey. His honey and za'atar-baked feta with flatbreads is the perfect sharing starter for friends and family. If you're looking for a sweet treat, whip up Tom's creamy honey, orange and pistachio possets.
Honey and za'atar-baked feta with flatbreads
See the recipe
Creamy honey, orange and pistachio possets
See the recipe
AMAZING HONEYBEE FACTS
Clear communicators
Bees communicate with each other so that the colony can find the best source of nectar or the best nest site for their swarm.
Quality control
The bees know when their honey is ready to be sealed with beeswax – they’re like food technologists in the hives, checking on the quality of the honey.
Energy efficient
Bees make honeycomb in a way that’s mathematically perfect to hold the most amount of honey using the least amount of wax.
A hive of activity
Bees have a series of different job roles in their lifetimes, from nurse bees who look after the young bees, to scout bees and foragers.
Bee the Change
Honeybees and bumblebees may seem like the same thing, yet honeybees are in fact domesticated in the UK and usually managed by an expert beekeeper, such as David Wainwright. Bumblebees on the other hand are wild. David says, "You can also usually tell them apart because bumblebees are big, round and furry, but honeybees are smaller, slimmer and much less hairy."
Wild bees, such as bumblebees and solitary bees, work hard pollinating our crops and wildflowers for free, so more wildflowers can grow, and we can enjoy delicious foods like tomatoes and blueberries. However, our native bumblebees are struggling because they do not have enough flowers to feed on. Fortunately, there are lots of quick, simple and fun things you can do to make your local area more bumblebee-friendly. We’ve shared some ideas from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which is leading a campaign called ‘Bee the Change’, highlighting the vital importance of these wild pollinators and the ways in which we can help them.
HOW YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Make your space bumblebee friendly
Add one bumblebee-friendly plant to your outdoor space – whether you have flowerpots, a window box, hanging baskets or a traditional flower bed. Your local garden centre will be able to help you pick.
Keep things natural
Make space for bumblebee nests by leaving ‘untidy’ areas in your garden: let patches of grass grow longer and wild, or start a compost heap.
Spread the word
Put the ‘Bee the Change’ poster in your window to inspire even more people to help bumblebees, or have fun designing your own.
Become a bee expert
People of all ages can have fun spotting bumblebees over the summer and learning about the different species – download your handy ID guide.
BRILLIANT BUMBLEBEE FACTS
Colourful tails
There are 24 species of wild bumblebee in the UK. They fall into three main groups based on the colour of their tails: red, white, or ginger/yellow. Looking at the tail colour is the simplest way to start identifying a bumblebee.
Sleepy bumblebee queens
Only bumblebee queens survive the winter by hibernating, so if you find a lone bumblebee sleeping in your garden in late winter or early spring, try not to disturb them as they’ll need to remain covered under the soil or leaves until it’s warm enough for them to survive out in the open.
Super bees
Bumblebees have a ‘superpower’ called buzz pollination, where they vibrate their bodies to make some flowers release their pollen in a tiny yellow explosion. Blueberries and tomatoes are just two of the many plants that need this type of pollination.
Bumblebee dream teams
Bumblebees work in small colonies of up to 400, and cooperate with others in the colony. They work together to fan cooler air into their nest and provide food too.
How is M&S supporting wild pollinators?
Farmers play an important role in protecting pollinators. Read about some of our brilliant growers and what they are doing to protect pollinators. M&S already asks all UK growers to be LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Marque certified. This requires them, for example, to provide food for bees and pollinators on their farms. With the support of LEAF, over the coming years we are delivering a programme for all M&S growers in the UK, aiming to enhance nature-friendly outcomes that will see all growers monitoring pollinators, managing a minimum of 5% habitat area on their farms for wildlife and demonstrating a reduced reliance on pesticides. We are also working with expert partners and growers to test and learn innovative pollinator-friendly farming methods, like planting wildflowers inside strawberry polytunnels.
We are passionate about continuing to support and grow British beekeeping. To do that we understand it is important to produce honey responsibly and to avoid any negative impact on wild pollinators. Together with Fera’s National Bee Unit and in consultation with leading NGOs and experts, we are working on a Responsible Honeybee Farming Standard, which we believe will be the first of its kind.
We are also working with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and supporting them to help further educate the nation (and ourselves) on all we can do to boost the future of wild bees in the UK.
