AN Anglesey bee keeper has sent her support to a fellow apiarist who was caught up in the Notre Dame cathedral fire.

Katie Hayward of Felin Honeybees, Honey Farm and Education Centre, at Cemaes, has contacted Nicolas Geant, whose bees were widely reported as miraculously surviving the flames which ripped through the iconic French building recently.

Mr Geant keeps three hives, with about 200,000 bees inside, on the lower part of the roof of the medieval structure which towers over Paris.

Katie said: “I just wanted to show my support with a fellow beekeeper.

“I couldn’t imagine the anguish Nicolas was going through looking at the whole roof ablaze. It must of been a complete torment for him, knowing that his bees might have cooked alive inside the hives or they could have just left their hives altogether.

“There was no way for him to know what had happened until the bees’ situation was eventually seen from a drone.

“It’s always been a dream for him to keep his lovely bees up there, and it must have been horrific watching his dream turn into a nightmare.

“I just felt I had to do something, and so I contacted him to show my support as a fellow beekeeper here on Anglesey.

“He is an amazing bee keeper, who pushes the boundaries in bee keeping. I have huge respect for him.

She added: “Luckily his bees were on the lower section of the roof that did not catch fire and it is a miracle that the bees were still safe."

Since the fire Nicolas, who runs Beeopic Apiculture posted on Facebook the news that his bees had survived the fire.

He posted on April 18 “Our bees from the Cathedral Notre-Dame De Paris are still alive!!

“Confirmation from the site’s officials!”

Katie said: “I think every beekeepers heart was with Nicolas at that time waiting and dreading the worse.”