Like an enforced hibernation, many of the beehives on La Palma in the Canary Islands were buried under volcanic ash after the Cumbre Vieja erupted in late September.

These six hives were situated just 600 metres from the volcano. When they were finally dug out from under a metre of ash on Nov. 6, rescuers — who suffered a sting here and there — found that five of the six hives had survived, with hundreds of thousands of bees undoubtedly happy to see blue skies again. They had sealed themselves in by creating propolis, a resinous material with which they plugged any gaps, and were able to survive on their food reserves, as the owner had not yet collected the summer honey.