The European bee-eater is one of the most beautiful birds in Europe – with turquoise, golden and chestnut plumage, a long curved bill and a distinctive ringing call. It spends the winter in Africa and returns in spring to nest in colonies, digging long tunnels into vertical sandy or clay banks. The bee-eater is a protected species in Bulgaria.
As its name suggests, the bee-eater feeds on flying insects – bees, wasps, dragonflies, beetles. After the apiary was set up in Ecopark Vaya in 2019, and with the abundance of insects over the meadows and ponds, bee-eaters discovered the ecopark and began to stay here during the breeding season.
To many beekeepers the bee-eater is an enemy. At Ecopark Vaya we chose a different approach. In 2023 the ecopark began deliberately maintaining conditions for the bee-eaters – preserving the open vertical earth banks in which they nest, not disturbing the colonies during the breeding season, and accepting their presence as part of the natural balance rather than as a threat.
Bee-eaters contribute to the environment in their own way. They regulate insect numbers, and their nesting tunnels are later used by other birds, insects and small animals. Their presence is also a sign of a healthy, insect-rich environment – because a bee-eater does not stay where there is nothing to hunt.
This activity requires not so much money as patience and conviction – and it was carried out with our own resources, as part of the ecopark’s philosophy that every species has its place in nature.
Today the bee-eaters are among the inhabitants of Vaya most sought after by photographers. Their colourful silhouettes above the apiary are a reminder that nature always finds a way to complement itself – if we let it.
Project summary
Project: Protection of bee-eaters
Year: 2023
Location: Ecopark Vaya
Activity: maintaining suitable nesting banks, protecting the colonies from disturbance, coexistence with the apiary
Funding: own funds and volunteer work
Status: completed, ongoing
Photo: Masood Aslami / Unsplash