A tale of the unexpected!

Last week, in my beekeeping classes, we covered bee swarms. Learning about this side of bee behaviour was pretty scary. Learning about beekeeping has been a revelation. The bee is a complex, intelligent and extraordinary insect. We need them on our planet more than we realise. This afternoon we donned our bee suits and then our tutor told us that the bees from one of the three hives in the walled garden were swarming! What timing!! I did approach with some trepidation but the bee suits do the trick, and we were safe as thousands of bees buzzed and swirled around our heads.

Look carefully and you can just about see the bees buzzing around this tiny viburnum bush, which was where they decided to settle, having swarmed from a hive a few feet away.

The bees weren't just settling on the tiny viburnum bush, they were making themselves at home on our bee suits. I was quite glad I couldn't see my back view!!

This is the hive the bees had swarmed from. Quite a few decided to return! Not a common occurrence. Once the queen has left, there is generally no going back for the worker bees who leave with her.

We spent time watching the swarm and then turned our attention to one of the other hives, to be shown all how it all works! If you want to be amazed, and humbled, learn about bees!

This turned out to be one of the most memorable afternoons I have ever spent!! I also realised that as long as I am safely tucked away inside a bee suit, I can cope with thousands of bees buzzing around me without having a panic attack! An important revelation for a would-be beekeeper!!

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