Police are hunting vandals who killed thousands of bees at the historic former home of Sir Francis Drake.
Bees have been kept at Buckland Abbey for centuries and are thought to have been there when the famous explorer lived there for 15 years there in the late 16th century.
But the ten hives containing 35,000 bees at the National Trust property in Yelverton, Devon were badly damaged on Saturday evening after being knocked over.
And despite the best efforts of beekeeper David Milford at least 5,000 of the insects have perished in the attack.
David, 68, now fears for the wellbeing of the rest of the swarm and voiced his shock at the "stupid" act of vandalism.
He said: "I got a phone call on Saturday evening saying that someone had been in the evening and knocked down all my hives.
"Most of the hives which were knocked over were relatively intact, which made life easier, but it was so dark and there was only so much we could do.
"I went back on Sunday and set about clearing it up.
"There was no doubt that it could have been caused by anything other than vandalism.
"The wind was strong but the hives were too heavy to be knocked over.
"It had to be human beings, because they knocked over every single hive and two stacks of empty boxes that I had there, and spread the contents all over the place.
"It was a right mess but it the bees that suffered - I lost around 5,000 all together."
David, chairman of the Plymouth branch of the Devon Beekeepers' Association, said the bees drowned while trying to find their way back to their hives in the heavy rain.
He added: "This is a stupid act of vandalism and although I keep bees of a generally quiet temperament, I hope the perpetrators got stung as many times as I did putting them all back together again.
"I would just like to meet these people to explain to them what the damage they have caused and what bees do for us as human beings."
The honey bee is considered to be the most important pollinator in the world, responsible for pollinating at least 90 per cent of commercial crops.
But the number of bee colonies in the UK has been in decline for years because of various threats to their survival.
David said: "Every hive is vital, the people who damaged these hives need educating into the damage they could have done.
"It is vital that we keep honey bees going to pollination of plants.
"Pollination is the most important thing that they do, the honey-bee is one of 250 variety of bee in the United Kingdom, and they all have a part in pollination.
"If crops are not pollinated effectively, yields drop dramatically and that means less food for the population.
"There are a lot of challenges for bees at the moment, not only do we continue to fight the onslaught of the varroa mite, which has been with us since 1992 and has decimated colonies country wide.
"There is also the debate about neonicotinoids, which we are awaiting the outcome of the investigation which has been taken place."
Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident to contact them on 101.