Tracing the Invisible: Beelining and Wild Honeybee Nests

Have you ever wondered how to follow honeybees through the living landscape? This workshop welcomes you into the growing community of wild honeybee trackers and introduces the enduring art of beelining, the craft and science of locating free-living honeybees. The practice is as old as humankind, and it has gained new relevance in a time of accelerating losses among managed honeybees. Beelining offers a direct way to meet honeybees on their own terms and to learn from nests that persist without human management. It is also a fun, engaging outdoor activity for all ages, inviting curiosity, movement, and shared discovery.

Across many regions, wild honeybee populations are thriving, shaped by local conditions and natural selection as self-sustaining, place-adapted networks. These free-living populations are an essential focus for conservation and research, and beelining provides a practical doorway into that work. By learning to track honeybees and returning to observe nests over time, we can witness seasonal rhythms, resilience strategies, and habitat relationships, while contributing valuable data that strengthens protection efforts and shared understanding.

This session is both practical and adventurous: a hands-on pathway into your own watershed, where hidden nests become discoverable and landscapes become legible through honeybee flight lines.

What we will learn

• How to set up your own beelining journey, from first observations to locating nests
• Essential tools, resources, and field guidelines for safe and effective tracking
• Monitoring protocols and data sheets, including what to record and how to standardize observations
• Tracking approaches for diverse landscapes, from forests and edges to agricultural mosaics and towns
• Citizen science participation, including how to use Apis Arborea’s WildBeeWatch app and contribute to a wider movement

This live-streamed workshop is designed for interactive learning and lively conversation, welcoming participants of all experience levels. Led by Michael Thiele and the Apis Arborea team, it cultivates a deeper relationship with wild honeybees and supports a grounded reimagining of apiculture in harmony with living ecosystems.

Recordings will be available after the workshop. Scholarships are available upon request.