Ashley Scott Davison is no stranger to dangerous encounters with wildlife.
鈥淚 got chased by an elephant in Zambia. I got chased by a giraffe in Kenya,鈥� the said. 鈥淏ut, I think it鈥檚 more demanding to film bees in Texas in the summertime.鈥�
Davison spent three years working on a National Geographic documentary about population decline among giraffes across Africa, but his latest project is closer to home. "Charlie Bee Company," a new show airing nationwide on PBS this spring, features New Braunfels beekeeper and removal specialist Charlie Agar as he rescues wild bees from San Antonio to Austin in the sweltering Lone Star sun.
Just imagine trying to keep a camera steady underneath the crawl space of a mobile home when it鈥檚 105 degrees outside.
鈥淲e all probably lost 10, 15, 20 pounds just in water weight that summer shooting it,鈥� Davison said.
Unlike giraffes, bees can get all up in your business, squeezing into the crevices of a big camera or buzzing right into your frame.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no eyepiece because you鈥檙e wearing a veil over your head. There鈥檚 no tripods because you have to be moving all the time,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e had to make sure the cameras had in-body image stabilization. We had to be really close to these bees to get a sense of what was going on.鈥�
But for Agar, it was all in good fun.
鈥淲e were having a ball making it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 having a ball playing with the bees. I think that鈥檚 our story, and I hope it comes across in the show鈥�
focuses on Agar鈥檚 business of the same name, following him as he fields nervous calls for bee removals from inside walls, boats, hot tubs and old oak trees.
Once Agar rescues the bees, he puts them to work by harvesting and selling their honey. The first step is reintroducing a queen bee to the feral colony. Agar still remembers learning the biology behind that process at a beekeeping presentation.
鈥淚 had no background in it and no interest per se,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut this presentation was captivating. I鈥檇 never thought about how a queen weighs 2,000 eggs a day in the high season and can live up to 4 or 5 years. How they requeen, colonize and pass on their genes as a superorganism.鈥�
Agar also leases bees out to Texans with rural land. Raising bees on their property lets landowners qualify for an agricultural valuation, which can reduce property taxes. The beekeeper places hives on people鈥檚 property and manages the insects himself.
鈥淚 always invite the property owners to join me,鈥� Agar said. 鈥淪haring beekeeping is one of the big joys for me, and I鈥檓 a bit of a show-off.鈥�
A former journalist, Agar tags along with other bee lovers on the show to explore the different aspects of beekeeping. He visits a local brewery that makes honey ale and gets a look inside Texas A&M鈥檚 Honey Bee Lab.
Agar and Davison both wanted the show to maintain a lighthearted tone, rather than focusing on the harsher truth behind the health of the honeybee. U.S. beekeepers lost about 45.5% of their managed colonies from 2020 to 2021, according to. Habitat loss, pesticides and unstable weather patterns are all major concerns.
Agar doesn鈥檛 shy away from those truths. He said he lost a lot of hives during the winter storm in Texas, and an extremely wet May resulted in one of the worst honey production years in decades.
Still, he believes fueling the public鈥檚 curiosity and appreciation for the insect opens up conversations.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to make a big impact on how people see their source of food or what they鈥檙e supplying at home to pollinators,鈥� Agar said.
That鈥檚 certainly what Davison hopes people walk away with after seeing the program.
鈥淟iterally, every third bite of food we have, you can thank a honeybee for,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just want them to appreciate this amazing little pollinator.鈥�
鈥淐harlie Bee Company鈥� premiered on KLRU, Austin鈥檚 PBS affiliate, in January. It鈥檚 set to air on PBS nationwide this spring.
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