Bees swarmed in neighbour's garden...

I'd become aware of activity in Mum's neighbour's garden.  A swarm of bees had arrived in the garden, and were..... swarming.

Long story, short.  The local beekeeper, a very informative lady, and her husband arrived to deal with the swarm.

I was invited to don the gear and take pics... so who could turn down an invitation like that!

The bees had swarmed on a stem of a very small bush; the stem was duly severed from it's host and that, with encumbant honey bees, were then placed in a cardboard box.

There were still several bees around, so it was waiting time to see what they did next.... the beekeeper, her husband and our neighbour..... 'waiting'

An individual honey bee!

It soon became apparent that the bees were clustering again... this time lower down on the same bush.

The beekeeper then opened the box with the 'main' swarm in.  If the queen bee was present in the box = the bees would stay in the box.  If she wasn't... the bees would leave.

The bees stayed in the box so given the queen was present, it was a matter of time before the remaing 'loose' bees joined their peers and the queen.

which they did!

and, finally, once all the bees (minus the very odd one or two) had joined the swarm, the box with it's honey-making occupants, was duly wrapped up and taken to a hive the beekeeper had already waiting their arrival.  Apparently it was the third 'swarm' she'd dealt with today.

So that was my excitement today... a rare opportunity to see some beekeeping at first hand, and my thanks to the beekeeper (for dressing me up in the required equipment and helping to set the scene and educate me) and Mum's neighbours for being kind enough to let me take pics.