The popular university honey is back on sale in campus outlets after a year away – with some of the money raised through sales being donated to the Nottingham Hospital’s Charity.

The honey comes from beehives located on land owned by the university. There are around 70 bee colonies in total, each housing tens of thousands of honeybees, helping to increase biodiversity and pollination.

The beehives are managed on the university’s behalf by professional bee farmer, Parks Apiaries. Hives are located at King’s Meadow Campus in Lenton and at Bunny Park – arable farmland south of Nottingham used for a variety of university research.

The different landscape settings are reflected in the flavour and colour of the two varieties. The King’s Meadow honey is predominantly multi-floral, with bees foraging in the nearby King’s Meadow local nature reserve, University Park and the city centre, and potentially on farmland by the University’s Riverside Sports Complex – as honeybees can travel up to several miles in search of food.

Honeybees at Bunny Park collect nectar from crops such as field bean, but also from trees such as horse chestnut, lime and hawthorn.

Once extracted, the honey is bottled in its raw state. It’s simply filtered through a nylon mesh, so keeps its valuable enzymes with pollens.

The university honey is on sale in the below campus outlets, priced £5. £2 from every jar will go towards the NHS Nottingham Hospital’s Charity.

• Spar shop, The Exchange, Jubilee Campus
• Portland Clothing Co, Portland Building, University Park
• Trent cafe, Trent Building, University Park
• Coates Café, Coates building, University Park
• Hipps cafe, Medical School
• Costcutter shop, Sutton Bonington

To find out more about encouraging wild bees into your garden, to help address concerns about declining bee populations and the impact on crop pollination and food security, take a look at The Wildlife Trust’s tips.