Not to bee…

This morning whilst adding more weeds to the compost pile I heard a very loud humming that I quickly guessed was the sound of thousands of bees who had decided to leave with their queen to find a new home. The bees had become a swarm that was looking to start a new colony.

Me and Dave got some protective suits on and Dave set to work catching a group that had settled on a near by small Oak tree, that had been kept from growing by constant nibbling from sheep, in the hope of relocating them into a new hive. Unfortunately it seems that there was no queen within this relatively small mass of bees – it is possible that what I heard was the main swarm leaving to find their own new home and what we found on the little Oak was the last remaining bees who hadn’t left with the main swarm. So a short while later it was clear the bees that Dave moved had returned back to the original hive where they and a new queen should set to work doing what bees do best.

It is a little bit of a shame that we couldn’t catch the swarm but I like to think that as I write this they are settling in for their first night in a lovely new home as the beginnings of a wild colony.

Go well bees and I wish you all a happy life in the Devon countryside.

Here is a series of photos I took of Dave relocating the bees we found to a new hive…