The Fed lost a long-time friend last week: Mollie Caine.
Mollie owns Shenharra Farm where the Fed has its hives and has been doing its bee breeding. She has been a good friend to Manx beekeepers (particularly the Western) for a long time. Tom Williamson had hives there and, its believed, other people before him.
She was a lovely lady in her 90s and active until quite recently keeping her own veg patch in a field near the house. Her sight went in the last couple of years but she was always glad to have a visit from anyone who wanted to talk about the farm, the bees or any other skeet we could give her.
It was a pleasure to arrive at Shenharra and share a word with Mollie, sitting in her chair with her blue eyes and lovely smile.
As her granddaughter Steph Cottier wrote : “She loved all things to do with nature and the beehives in the bottom field have been there as long as I can remember!”
RIP Dear Mollie.
Hello,
I was sad to hear that Mollie Caine has died as her name pops up every now and then in our Biological Records database as she recorded wild flowers and we have her records from the late 1970s to 1994. She took part in the road verge survey that the Manx Wildlife Trust undertook 1991-4. We are in the process of making our records available to the public and are working on a new website ‘NBN Atlas Isle of Man’ which is to be launched in April. Its at the testing stage at the moment but you can have a look at it.
Many records come from eager volunteers who provide a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the island’s biodiversity.
With best wishes
Philippa
Biological Records Manager, DEFA