A beekeeper attempts to move a swarm of bees enveloping a car in a busy town car park.
Photo Credit: Tom Moses/Mercury Press
[From article]
grandmother plagued by a huge swarm of bees for more than 24 hours while driving her car home from a nature reserve has spoken about the “incredible” ordeal.
Carol Howarth, 65, was amazed when a swarm of over 20,000 insects flew down onto her silver Mitsubishi Outlander, covering the back end of the vehicle.
A team of three beekeepers, a national park ranger and members of the public helped to capture and contain the swarm inside a cardboard box while Mrs Howarth was away from the car shopping.[. . .]
A swarm of bees sparked chaos in a high street when their queen got stuck in a car boot resulting in 20,000 bees chasing the car for two days.
Photo Credit: Tom Moses/Mercury Press
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ranger Tom Moses, 41, raised the alarm when he spotted the swarm on the car parked outside the Three Crowns pub in Haverfordwest.
Concerned that the insects might be destroyed with pesticide, Mr Moses contacted two members of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers' Association, who came to help capture the swarm.
[. . .]
However, after returning to her car, Mrs Howarth drove home believing the problem had been resolved, only to discover on Monday morning that the swarm had followed her and were again covering the car.
[. . .]
She was then forced to contact the beekeepers for a second time, who finally managed to remove the swarm for good by 6pm.
"One theory was that the queen was trapped in my car and the swarm were following,” Carol said.
"But they couldn't find the queen anywhere so I've no idea if that was right.
"Apparently bees can swarm at this time of the year and it is a very strong instinct for them to follow the queen."
"I still don't really understand why because they couldn't see the queen anywhere. Perhaps they just like the heat of my car."
Roger Burns, of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers, said: "It is possible the queen had been attracted to something in the car - perhaps a sweet or food in the car.
"The swarm of around 20,000 had followed her and were sat around on the boot of the car.
"I brought over a cardboard box and carefully brushed them into there as quickly as possible as I was aware it was a big swarm in the middle of the high street.
"I got about 15 or 20 stings for my trouble. I then left the cardboard box on the roof while we waited for the last few hundred bees to leave the boot but then a gust of wind blew it off and the queen may have fled back to the boot again."
Retired GP Roger, 65, said: "I then had to leave and another beekeeper took up the watch however eventually the car owner returned and drove off.
"I have been beekeeping for 30 years and I have never seen a swarm do that. It is natural for them to follow the queen but it is a strange thing to see and quite surprising to have a car followed for two days. It was quite amusing."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/24/swarm-of-bees-follow-grandmothers-car-for-over-24-hours-attempti/
Swarm of bees follow grandmother's car for over 24 hours attempting to rescue their queen
Harry Yorke
24 May 2016 • 4:07pm
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