Breda: a landscape-scale pilot for the native dark honey bee
From targeted AMM breeding to free-living honey bees in De Oude Nassaubossen van Breda
Text for the SICAMM network
A city as a conservation area
Stichting Het Conservatoire is developing Het Bijenlandschap De Oude Nassaubossen van Breda as a pilot for a connected conservation area for the native dark honey bee (Apis mellifera mellifera, AMM). Breda has about 200,000 residents and one hundred beekeepers, and covers roughly 100 km² of city, surrounded by 65 km² of neighbouring nature. Our aim is to give this city and its surrounding nature room again for the AMM.
This page contains the text the foundation shares with scientists and conservation centres of the international SICAMM network. We present it as a pilot still under development: plans and ambitions, not completed results.
Targeted AMM breeding with Breda and European stock
The foundation breeds AMM colonies under the coordination of Piet Verkooijen, preferably with its own Breda haplotypes — which still have to be determined — and with AMM bees from Texel and Chimay. The breeding takes place on Texel and in Chimay; bees from Great Britain and Ireland would be most welcome in the future.
From these AMM colonies, the drone-producing colonies are raised on the foundation’s own mating island in the South Holland Delta.
Drone colonies in log hives, without honey harvest
In the Bee Landscape we aim to keep 50 to 100 drone-producing colonies on poles, in log hives (ruches troncs), as was traditionally done in north-west Europe. No honey is harvested from these colonies: their function is to supply drones for the mating of queens in the area.
Their care is provided by beekeepers who follow the foundation’s natural beekeeping course, with the official NBV certificate. They are also the stewards of the drone-producing colonies.
Drone colonies on the city’s ecological corridors
The drone-producing colonies are placed on ecological corridors (EVZ) within Breda’s main urban tree network. In this way the targeted breeding is connected to the green structure of the city and to the surrounding nature, and the drones reach the whole landscape.
Free-living honeybees in the city
The swarm app of the municipality of Breda shows many reports of swarms: the city hosts free-living honeybees. Breda also has deciduous and coniferous woodlands dating back to the Middle Ages, with many black woodpecker cavities. In this way we promote free-living honeybees with AMM as their genetic origin.
Swarm reports by themselves do not prove a self-sustaining population or AMM descent. That requires repeated observations, overwintering colonies and genetic research.
Scientific grounding and cooperation
We want this project to be scientifically monitored. Genetic purity and the origin of the bees in the area are only demonstrated once morphometric and genetic research confirms it — with wing morphometry, mitochondrial DNA and nuclear markers. We invite the scientists and conservation centres of the SICAMM network to think along with us.
We also know that more honeybee colonies do not automatically mean more biodiversity. The design of the landscape and room for wild pollinators therefore remain part of the conversation.
Our ambition is a scientifically monitored practical example: a conservation area where targeted breeding, committed beekeepers and a connected landscape together create space for the native dark honey bee.
From genetic heritage to a living place for the AMM in the Dutch landscape.
Hans Peter Verkooijen — Stichting Het Conservatoire