Swollen eye agony for Norwich postie turned beekeeper

Published:
3:41 PM June 28, 2022

A city beekeeper has warned of the dangers of inspecting colonies after a bee stung his face. 

Kevin Woodruff decided to quit his job as a postie with the Royal Mail three years ago and has since turned his hobby of looking after bees into a full-time job.

The 50-year-old Old Catton man was left with a swollen eye after inspecting a colony in Buxton on Monday morning. 

Mr Woodruff, who is known as The Bee Man on YouTube, said: “It was not the friendliest of colonies.

“One of the bees followed me after the inspection when I went back to the car to take my bee suit off and it stung me in the eye.

“It hurts but most of the time when I get stung it is my fault.

“Ultimately I am ripping the roof off their home every time I have to do an inspection. I would not like it if someone took the roof off my house.

“One of the annoying traits of aggressive colonies is they can follow you around and fly around your face as they know that is vulnerable.”

After getting a few funny looks when walking his dog on Monday, Mr Woodruff was relieved to see the swelling go down on Tuesday.

He is a bee farmer at five locations across the county including Norwich, Wroxham, Hainford, Barton Turf and Buxton. 

Mr Woodruff inspects colonies to ensure the bees are disease free and to check the queen is productive.

The bee boffin added: “The best part of the job is having to deal with all the problems that get thrown at you to manage. It’s never boring.

“But the worst part is all the lifting involved. At this time of the year you have a lot of supers for storing surplus honey and you have to lift a lot of beehives.

“I just started off with helping a guy I knew you was a beekeeper and it has progressed into a business.”

Mr Woodruff sells a range of products including lip balms and hand balms.