27 May 2015

A Swarm of Bees Lands

Do you know what a swarm of honey bees arriving looks like?
My doorbell rang. "There's a swarm of bees, come and get them!" Ok, just around the corner? "let's see then..." I went and looked. Yes, a lovely swarm of honey bees, about 12 metres (40 feet) up a Scots Pine tree...


Hmm, rather high and the bees may fly off even if I could get up there. Most likely this was a temporary resting stop for the swarm. These bees were in search of a permanent home.
I set up a bait hive in the garden and the next day the bees moved in.
A swarm of bees arrives in a bait hive
Photo: M Malcher




That is an impressive sight don't you think? An old Anglo-Saxon beekeeping charm refers to the bees as "Victorious Women", and watching them take possession of their new home it is easy to see why.

You may also like to read:

Sustainable beekeeping:
http://starfrostmoon.blogspot.co.uk/p/sustainable-beekeeping.html

Tree Bumblebees:
http://starfrostmoon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/tree-bumblebee-bombus-hypnorum.html


Notes:
If you want to learn about beekeeping, please join your local beekeepers association and take a reputable course of lessons before acquiring bees.

For the beekeepers amongst my readers, this was not a swarm from my own hives, but there was a lovely, marked queen.