The place; a housing estate in Canterbury, Kent.
What you are looking at is a swarm of honey bees, hanging over a Sulo bin – in which there is a mixture of household bleach and treacle – one man’s way of solving the ‘problem’. Just cut the branch and close the lid quickly!
In fairness; he had tried a couple of other ways; but apparently the local ‘wildlife park’ (which has a large apiary) had shown no interest and the Local Authority had offered to deal with the swarm for a payment of £60.00!
Luckily, another resident had a more-enlightened view and after a quick call to Canterbury Beekeepers’ ‘Swarm Coordinator’, a beekeeper from Ramsgate soon arrived on the scene and the swarm was safely collected.
Apparently; the original ‘bleach and treacle’ man was amazed that a beekeeper would want the swarm; as he thought he would have been worried about being stung!
So a happy ending to what could have been a tragedy; but in a country that is supposedly going to be doing more to help our pollinators; what an illustration of general lack of knowledge (…and an indictment on the Local Authority!)
(Swarm ID information and ‘Swarm Collector Finder’ on the British Beekeepers Association website)
