Barry Chang is not your common or garden beekeeper. While most would never dream of tackling a swarm of insects without full protective gear, Barry in more than happy in a coat and woolly hat.
The 71-year-old has more than 50 hives across Liverpool, with each home to between 6,000 and 25,000 bees, and is often called upon to deal with infestations in the city.
The sight of the Jamaican, who moved to Britain in 2001, coaxing thousands of bees from homes and workplaces has earned him the nickname “The Bee Whisperer”.
And now he is sharing his love of the much misunderstood insects, working with local schools to create a buzz about beekeeping, with one even putting a hive in its car park.
He explains: “Bees are my pet. Just how a man may have a snake as his pet, I have bees.
“Sometimes I sit and watch them, hundreds of bees going in and hundreds coming out.
“None of them are fussing or fighting, they work in a unique manner and if people lived like bees, we would be much better off.”
As for why he chooses not to wear a beekeeping suit during his work, he adds: “Even if I get a sting, it’s good for me, you know, so no problem. The bees are better with me without a suit.
“I believe they are much calmer with me. I work with no mesh, no mask, no gloves, nothing and everybody wonders why I do it.
“It’s the love you have for bees, they can feel it.”
Barry had his first hive when he was 30 back in Jamaica. Having left his homeland two decades ago, he rekindled his passion in Liverpool, taking a course with the British Beekeepers Association in 2008.
Before then he had been breeding rabbits and selling them to pet shops so he could pay his children’s school fees back in his homeland.
But after gaining full accreditation in 2012 he put hives in his allotment, in the Dingle area of the city.
And during the summer holidays this year he ran beekeeping classes for local children in Toxteth.
He says: “We got the kids to come to the Caribbean Centre, 25 of them every week. First when they came, they were so scared of bees and then after that, they got to love the bees.
“Bees are not an aggressive insect. When a bee stings you it dies so bees don’t like to sting unless they are threatened or in danger.
“If a bee sits on you, just keep steady and he’ll just fly off. Sometimes he just stops to rest.”
Barry, who is now working on a programme for Netflix and a new film to celebrate Black History Month, is just one of the inspirational people we are highlighting as part of our Celebrating Black Britain series.
Already well known in Liverpool, he is the first person anyone calls if they have an infestation of the insects. He says: “I come and collect all honey bees for free. The bees are declining. They are an endangered species so I am here to take care of the bees and build up the population.
“Sixty per cent of the food that we eat has to be pollinated and without bees we wouldn’t have any food to eat. If the bees die, then humans die.”
Barry’s love for honey bees has come in part from studying their behaviour for many years.
He explains: “When a bee finds food they come back to the hive and tell everyone where to find the food, and that is a form of unity and that is the main reason why I love honey bees.
“Every morning the first thing I do is sit with the bees for a period of time then I go to the allotment and do some work and then I sit there again and watch them. I’ve learned lots from them.”
Barry was the only black beekeeper in the Liverpool division of the BBA until he began training his friends.
Incredibly, Barry has 19 children, two of whom are sadly no longer with us. But one of his sons, Barry Jr, has become a beekeeper himself.
Barry says: “I never knew my grandfather but he used to keep bees so it seems like it’s bonded in our blood.”
