This colony must have been sending out multiple swarms and renewing a locally grown wild population for many years. This Bee Tree is ecologically important because they have not only provided a continual source of new bees to pollinate the wild flowers but they have helped save the oak tree which must have suffered a huge fungal attack mang years ago which hollowed out the heart wood. The bees propolis shell have sealed the interior from further infection, dried out any damp and continually send heat up from their nest to the core of the tree. In winterf their nest will always be at about 8 degrees centigrade even during heavy snow falls. Over time that heat rises and penetrates the whole tree.
