Isles of Scilly bees tracked to see if they hop between islands

Honey bees mate on the wing, and males, known as drones, often swap colonies on land seeking a new queen

Bees on the Isles of Scilly are being tracked to see if they island-hop in search of a new queen.

Hundreds of male insects have been marked on the thorax with a different colour for five of the inhabited islands.

The study, nicknamed Game of Drones, will look at whether male drone bees cross the sea to seek a new queen bee.

Female bees, known as workers, already sometimes do for foraging, say beekeepers.

Hundreds of male insects have been marked on the thorax with a different colour for five of the inhabited islands

The colours on the bees were marked by local beekeepers and students at the Five Islands Academy and represent each inhabited island.

Beekeeper Jilly Halliday said: "It's a perfect island laboratory, blue for Bryher, orange for St Agnes, red for St Martin's, green for St Mary's and purple for Tresco."

The idea for Game of Drones came up in the pub, she said.

"We ran workshops with the children. The drones are very delicate and the marker pen has no toxins and you just dot them very gently on the thorax," she added.

"We haven't spotted any island hopping yet, but it is still early days."

The archipelago's said by experts to offer a perfect natural laboratory for the study, nicknamed Game of Drones

There is more on this story on Sunday's episode of Broadcasting House on BBC Radio 4.