Police join beekeepers in battle against swarms buzzing into town

POLICE have teamed up with beekeepers to catch swarms that are apparently terrorising the public.

As temperatures rose last week, colonies of bees were seen breaking up into smaller swarms and creating new nests. Police have been working with beekeepers to help cordon off affected areas and clear the swarms safely.

Gerry Mcdonald, chief inspector for East Herts, said: “As it gets warmer we get calls telling us about large swarms of bees. This is why this year we are working with the Beekeepers Association to find swarms and collect them and to help people at the same time.

“Please call them if you see a swarm of bees and they will come and collect the swarm.”

In May 2017, a large swarm descended on the centre of Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, filling the air with an enormous cloud of bees that caused panic among shoppers who ran for cover.

Dr Michael Cook, chairman of the Hertford and Ware Beekeeping Association, said the purpose of removing the bees from where they were originally found was to stop the swarm heading back to familiar territory and sources of food.

He added: “We have around 40 people who are on the swarm collection list. When we get information about a swarm we go and assess it.

“If it is a swarm, we put traffic cones around the site and white and red tape to stop people going into the area. We collect the swarm but we don’t take them away immediately. We keep them in a box and wait for the feeder bees to return, then we take them away.”

Once collected by the beekeepers, the insects are examined to check their health and are then passed on to professional beekeepers to look after.

Once a swarm is removed from a populated area it is transferred to a safer “quarantined area” to prevent any return in future.