A field of oil seed rape at Titterstone Clee Hill. Bee hives are being placed in fields like this

Beekeepers are urged to be on their guard after bee rustlers swiped 18 hives worth more than £5,000 from a farm in the Shropshire countryside.

With the start of the growing season, hives are being placed in fields of oil seed rape and other crops all over the county.

But they are a sitting target for thieves hoping to cash in on the nationwide shortage of bee colonies.

The industry is in crisis due to the ravages of killer bugs like varroa and two wet summers which devastated the honey harvest.

More and more people are interested in becoming beekeepers, but it now costs at least £250 to obtain a colony, with demand far outstripping supply.

There has been a nationwide spate of thefts of hives – and now Shropshire has been targeted.

Richard Lindsey, of The Great Little Honey Company, Rowley Hill Farm, Stretton, Stafford, has hives all over Shropshire in a mutually beneficial arrangement with farmers.

“As a major beekeeper, I’m working 24/7 in a struggle to survive,” he said.

The female varroa mite is killing off our bees

“I was distressed to find on visiting one of my farm sites at Bolas Heath, near Telford, that 18 hives have been stolen.

“This was obviously carried out by someone who knew the site and knew what they were doing.

“We want other beekeepers to know these despicable people are around.”

Beryl Green, of Shropshire Beekeepers’ Association, who keeps bees with her husband Ray in Shrewsbury, said: “We don’t have satellite tracking of hives and it’s very difficult to protect them.

“I’ve even heard of bee rustlers climbing barbed wire fences to get at hives.

“We advise people to put them on land where they are not in obvious view and where access may not be that easy.

“Leaving hives in a field at the edge of a road is just asking for trouble.”

She added: “I’ve never met a genuine beekeeper who would ever think about stealing hives. They’re a lovely group of people.”

Tony Phillips, of Picklescott, near Shrewsbury, a fellow member of the association, said: “In the past, there used to be lots of feral honey bees living in holes in trees or lofts.

“People never worried about buying bees because you would see swarms all over the place. But there’s now a serious shortage.”

By Peter Johnson