A FIVE-year-old from Laverstoke is creating a buzz as he inspires the next generation of beekeepers.

Jace Huggins, who is in Year 1 at Overton Primary School, discovered his new hobby earlier this year when he saw three colonies of bees removed from a bedroom wall in his family home.

Now, he looks after around 60,000 honeybees in his garden and has even started designing labels for the first batch of honey his bees have produced.

“What’s amazing for me is just the way he’s taken to it,” said Jace’s mum, Danielle.

“He will open the hives and he can talk you through the hive, what he’s learned, and all about the queen laying the eggs.”

She added: “He will walk around chanting ‘save the bees’.”

Danielle says Jace has developed a “genuine love” for the insects after seeing thousands removed from his family home earlier this year.

He’s now the youngest member of the Basingstoke Beekeepers Association and takes part in the group’s monthly apiary meetings at St John’s Copse in Oakley, as well as looking after his own bees at home.

He hopes to share both the honey they produce – plus his homemade labels – and his newfound knowledge with family and friends.

“When the family comes over, he gets them all to do be quizzes. Everyone he meets now he just tells them about bees,” said Danielle.

She adds that Jace’s passion has revealed a new side of him to her.

“You have to be calm,” she said. “You can’t go into an apiary running around. It’s shown a different side to him. When it comes to the bees, as soon as he gets that suit on, he becomes a mini adult.”

Jace is now planning on taking his hobby to school and met with one of his teachers this week with a view to starting a bee club at school, of which he will be the captain.

Danielle added: “Quite a lot of people come up and say well done and ask him about the bees and they are really proud of him and what he’s doing.”

“I’m so proud of him and I just love watching him when he gets into bee mode, and he puts his net up and his gloves on.

“He’s just an inspiration.”