This is actually from a few days ago - been busy recently.
We were waiting to be picked up by friends, and standing out on the drive, when Mrs T noticed something unusual in our hedge.
I had heard the expression “to swarm” as applied to bees, and I guess I thought it meant to fly around a bit. Well, that’s not how honey bees swarm - click for the full picture (this is about a third of it):
I suppose there was a bit more than a liter of bees, which must get you into the thousands. Our friends arrived, we got picked up, and from the car I called my friend E, who knows about such things. You need a bee keeper to rescue/remove them and put them in a hive - they (the bees) are rather sought after, in fact. Of course, she knew several (!), who would be called into action if the swarm was still there when we got back.
A couple of hours later - and the swarm was gone. Mixed feelings about that. Do I want several thousand bees camped out in my yard? No. Would I have liked to see them rescued and removed to safety? Of course. I hope that’s what eventually happened.
j