The Bees In The Hedge

Yesterday a swarm of honeybees flew over our front garden - for an hour or so the air above the garden was thick with thousands of bees, and I had to close all the windows at the front to stop them flying in.



They settled in our front hedge, massed together in a cone which looked the size of a large watermelon. We didn't know they were there until our neighbour came round to tell us about it, as the settled swarm was only visible from their side.



I hastily looked up local collectors on the British Beekeeepers Association website, R rang the nearest one, and a helpful beekeeper came round to remove the swarm for us. This involved attracting the bees to a syrup solution on a frame, a hundred or so at a time, so they could be shaken into a box. It was quite a long process, especially as the cone of bees we could see turned out to be the tip of the iceberg, and there were a lot more than we'd first thought. The beekeeper said he should have brought a bigger box!



He did manage to get nearly all of them in the end though, and once the queen was in the box, the other bees were more willing to follow her there. It was a fascinating half-hour or so, and the beekeeper didn't even charge us for removing the bees, though we'd happily have paid just for the experience of watching him at work.