It looks alarming, but dont panic!
Finding a large cluster of bees in your garden can be alarming, especially if you've never seen a swarm before. One day there's nothing there, the next there's a football-sized mass of bees hanging from a tree branch or shed roof. I once arrived home to see what looked like a huge black cloud hovering over my drive, I quickly realised my back garden hive had swarmed and was causing alarm with the neighbours!
The good news is that a swarm of honey bees is usually far less dangerous than it looks.
What is a bee swarm?
Swarming is the natural way that honey bee colonies reproduce.
During spring and early summer, strong colonies can become overcrowded. When this happens, the old queen leaves the hive with thousands of worker bees to establish a new colony elsewhere.
Before moving to their permanent home, the bees often gather temporarily in a cluster while scout bees search for a suitable location. This is the swarm that people commonly discover in gardens, hedges, trees and outbuildings.
Are swarms dangerous?
In most cases, swarming honey bees are surprisingly docile.
Before leaving the hive, worker bees fill themselves with honey, making them less defensive than they would normally be when protecting a colony.
That said, you should never attempt to handle, move or collect a swarm yourself unless you have the appropriate beekeeping experience and protective clothing. Disturbing a swarm can result in getting stung - many times(!) particularly if the bees become agitated.
If you discover a swarm, the safest approach is to keep your distance, keep children and pets away, and contact a local beekeeper who can assess the situation and arrange to collect, if possible, and take them away to rehome.
Some unusual places we've collected swarms
Swarm season keeps us busy every year. So far, we've collected swarms from:
• The roof of a shopping centre
• Inside a hollow tree - see photo above - very hard to access!
• Underneath a van
• In a cherry tree in the playground of Romanby Primary School, which we had to gather quickly, a few days ago.
Bees have an incredible ability to find unusual temporary homes while they decide where to settle permanently.
Why do swarms happen more often in warm weather?
Warm spring weather encourages colonies to grow quickly.
With plenty of nectar and pollen available, queens increase egg laying and hive populations can expand rapidly. If colonies run out of space, swarming becomes much more likely. This is one reason why beekeepers are especially busy during warm springs such as this year.
Swarm collection in North Yorkshire and the Tees Valley
If you've found what you believe to be a honey bee swarm in North Yorkshire or the Tees Valley, we may be able to help.
Where practical and safe to do so, we collect swarms and rehome them into our hives.
Please send us:
• A photograph of the swarm
• The location
• An estimate of its height from the ground
• Your contact details
We'll advise whether it is likely to be a honey bee swarm and whether collection is possible. Many insects are mistaken for honey bees, including bumblebees, solitary bees and wasps. If you're unsure, send us a photograph and we'll do our best to identify them before any action is taken.
Every swarm represents a new colony looking for a home, and wherever we can, we work to safely collect and rehome them.