Growing up in my hometown Wellseind, a little place along the river Maas in the Netherlands, I was always out in nature. From a young age I was fascinated with the environment around me, particularly trees. I was intrigued by how adaptable they are, their different shapes and structure and how useful they are to both wildlife and humans. This led me to go on to study Forestry and Landscape Management in Velp, Gelderland, NL. After completing my studies I came to Ireland in 2001 where I started a forestry contracting business in Galway. Throughout these years I became increasingly aware that things needed to change. Hedgerows were disappearing and biodiversity on farms was diminishing because of the intensification of farming practices. At this point I changed career and went into organic farming. Here it became clear that bees were vital for pollination of crops. With that in mind I started a beekeeping course and got a hive of bees. It soon became apparent to me that conventional beekeeping is more focussed on honey production and is less concerned with what the bees require to live a healthy, natural life. I began to research and found that there were more wholesome ways of beekeeping which in turn led me to explore how bees live in the wild. Given the increasing loss of wild habitats I looked at ways to mimic their natural nesting sites in cavities in trees.