If you do have a swarm
it will look something like this

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If you think you have a swarm of bees
please contact one of our collectors:

Mrs Anne Buckingham
Tel: 01252 714069

Mr Mike Dorricott
Tel: 01252 722 833
Mob: 0780 385 1070

They will need to know the following:

1) Where you are
2) Where the swarm is
3) What it has settled on (tree, ground, etc)
4) How high off the ground
5) When you are at home
6) Is there good access

How to recognise a Swarm of Bees

A fairly high proportion of calls by beekeepers to attend swarms turn out not to be swarms at all. The most common false alarms fall under one of the following categories:

1. Established colonies of bees in chimneys, roof spaces or other parts of buildings. The property owner usually notices a steady traffic of bees flying from a hole somewhere in the building. Often the sign is a lot of bees coming into a room where there is a disused chimney, even if the aperture has been 'blocked off'.

2. Wasp nests in and around buildings. Close to it is easy to distinguish between wasps and honey bees, but if insects are flying from a gap in roof tiles near the ridge, it can be tricky. If the nest is visible identification is easy.

3. Bumblebees of various sorts. Armed with only the minimum information the layman should have no trouble identifying bumblebees. They are much bigger and fewer than honey bees, they have a thick layer of fur on their bodies which is usually banded black and yellow (or orange or red) and the traffic at the nest entrance will consist of only a few bees a minute, whereas a busy hive will have almost a cloud of bees at the entrance.

4. Solitary bees. There are several common species of solitary bee in England. Each bee sets up a 'nest' containing several eggs and the necessary stores for the larvae to grow to maturity. At the end of the juvenile development the new adults will emerge at short intervals. Since these bees are quite fussy about where they set up their nests, it is not uncommon for many bees to do so in close proximity, and if the conditions are right a large number of nests can mature almost at the same time. In this case a large number of bees will be seen crawling about and can be mistaken for a swarm. One of the commonest varieties is the red mason bee, which can often be seen exploiting holes in brickwork for its nesting site.

Typical Swarm
Beekeepers will always answer a call and if a telephone conversation fails to resolve the problem will make a visit. Almost never will a beekeeper remove a colony established somewhere in a building, since to do so would entail possibly extensive demolition. Neither will a beekeeper destroy such a colony; you will need a licensed pest controller. Likewise beekeepers will seldom destroy a wasp nest, and never a bumblebee nest. Both bumblebees and wasps disappear in the autumn, so if it is possible to wait until then, we recommend it. In these species the mated queens hibernate through the winter.