'Our bees now have a fighting chance against floods'

A brother and sister have helped their bees survive recent flooding by building a floating pontoon for their hives.

Luigi and Cherie Capozzoli, from Ilchester in Somerset, lost almost all of their 10 hives during flash floods at the end of last year.

Their loss inspired the pair to build a floating platform for their new hives, which saved the bees during Storm Bert and Darragh.

Mr Capozzoli said: "I can say, hand on heart, that they're going to have a fighting chance this winter. So we're really pleased."

Ms Capozzoli said they knew that something had to be done after flooding in 2023 "came through with such ferocity".

"We've never seen it like that before," she said.

The rafts, which took nearly a year to put in place, are made out of wooden pallets with four barrels wired underneath each one.

They lift when the water flows in, with scaffolding polls keeping them from moving downstream.

The siblings, who have been beekeepers for three years, said they have about 30,000 to 40,000 bees to keep safe.

They built their bee numbers back up from last year's flood by hatching the queen cells from the last surviving hive into six more hives.

Mr Capozzoli said it was "incredibly emotional" to see their pontoon device working during the recent storms.

"Seeing them floating was incredible – a real achievement," he said.

"There's obviously a change in the climate.

"The bees are in decline and we try and help them the best we can, hence why we came up with this device to give them a fighting chance - and it's worked."

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