Family of beekeepers 'devastated' after half a million bees stolen from home near Newquay

• Video report by Charlotte Gay

A beekeeper whose family have been caring for bees for three generations says he is feeling "really emotional" after five of his family's beehives were stolen.

Around half a million bees were taken from Tresillian House near St Newlyn East, between Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 June.

Guy Barnes says it was especially hard to deal with because "they're bees that my family has had for a long time" adding his mother, who looked after them for decades was "devastated."

"I was introduced to beekeeping through my mum and my grandfather. These bees initially were looked after by my mother and I've then taken them on myself relatively recently as as the main beekeeper."

Guy had only moved the hives into Cornwall from his mother's home in Devon in the past six months, and had been mentoring Tresillian estate staff Allan and Jonny as apprentice beekeepers.

Guy says the whole experience has been "hugely stressful" but what makes it even more upsetting has been seeing some of the bees return but knowing they won't survive.

"They don't have any food stores. They don't have a queen. They're coming back to their old home because that's what they're designed to do. But they have no future here because the colony has been moved so these bees will die."

As well as the emotional cost, and the bees themselves, it will cost Guy around £1000 to replace the hives.

Marcus Pilling is the secretary of the Roseland Beekeeping Group. He says he is "extremely disappointed" because "whoever's done this has at least some knowledge of beekeeping".

"I wouldn't call them a beekeeper because beekeepers would know how much we all put into our bees and they wouldn't even entertain taking some bees like they have done so. But it is someone that is aware of the practice."

"It's not something that the general public would come and say, 'well, I'll take this' and also, presumably, they've got to store them somewhere and put them somewhere. So. So there's a lot of planning that's going involved on this, which is very very, very sad and very disappointing that this is happening, that it's happened."

Police are investigating and Sergeant Steve Applewhite, who is himself a beekeeper, says he is especially concerned about the the welfare of the bees.

He says because some bees have returned it's likely the insects could be kept very close to where they were stolen

"We have been told that some bees have returned to the site where the hives were, before being stolen, this means that it is likely that these hives have been initially relocated or stored only a few miles away from Tresillian house."

“It would also take quite a large vehicle to carry a cargo of this considerable weight and it would be incredibly difficult to handle and carry alone. Tresillian House runs adjacent to the A3058 which runs past Dairyland; this is a well-used road so it is very likely that passing drivers may have seen suspicious people or the vehicle carrying the hives.”

Sgt Applewhite added he's like to hear from "anyone within Devon and Cornwall who may have been offered a hive with bees, or any apiaries who have been offered additional hives since the date of the offence.”

People living locally are also being asked to check CCTV and any dashcam footage to see if the spot anything unusual.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact 101 or email 101@dc.police.uk quoting CR/053074/22 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on freephone 0800 555111.