Amazing photo of 30,000 bees taking up residence in garden
A SHEPSHED resident has shared the amazing photos he took of around 30,000 honey bees that took up residence in his garden - and he is asking others to take note of what a swarm actually looks like.
Alan Blood was sat watching TV on last week next to an open patio door when he heard a high pitched whine about 100 ft away...so he went to investigate.
Alan, who has been a beekeeper for 19 years, went outside to discover a swarm of honey bees had taken over one of the spare hives in his garden - but the bees he found were not his.
He told the Echo: “They could be wild bees or, more likely, they’re bees lost by another beekeeper - there are several in the area.
“Swarming season is anywhere between May and July and they’d just taken over that box.
“Bees constantly up and leave, my own do. Occasionally they’ll move to an empty hive next to one you have, but very often they fly away and some other beekeeper gets them.”
Alan told the Echo despite the images looking rather daunting to some, the swarm is actually averaged sized.
He is hoping to rehouse his new fuzzyfriends soon in a full-sized hive.
As well as sharing the images, Alan is asking residents to take note of what an actual swarm looks like.
He said: “The reason I put the post up is because I was getting bored of people saying they had a swarm and, because I’m a beekeeper, asking me to collect them.
“Often there’s just a few bees, it’s a totally different social structure and they’re known as solidarity bees so I wanted to show people what a swarm really looks like.
“Bees are harmless if you leave them alone!”