Swarm of bees near school (From Blackburn Citizen)

Swarm of bees near school

7:00pm Wednesday 5th July 2006

• Print
• Email
• Share

THOUSANDS of bees swarmed around a tree across the road from a Blackburn high school.

The borough's official bee catcher said that the swarm had been brought on by the heatwave currently gripping East Lancashire and the rest of the UK.

The bees were spotted opposite St Wilfrid's C of E High School and Technology College, Duckworth Street, yesterday.

School caretaker Vic Gosling said the bees were discovered at about 1pm.

At first it was thought they were wasps, and the council's environmental health team were called, he added.

"I've never seen anything like it, when we came out it was just a black swarm," added Mr Gosling.

The environmental health department drafted in Bob Fulton, who keeps bees as a hobby, to deal with the swarm.

At about 2.30pm Mr Fulton, from Darwen, the borough's official bee handler, cut the branch off the tree, and put the bees in a cardboard box.

He left the box behind the tree for all the bees to congregate in, and returned a couple of hours later to collect them.

He said there were probably between 5,000 and 6,000 bees, and that he would incorporate them into one of his own hives, which he keeps at his apeary in Old Pole Street, Darwen.

• Print
• Email
• Share