Bees

[stellarog]

Last night our van was attacked by a swarm of giant bees in Norfolk. They concentrated around the garage and roof at the back. None else on the site had any problem, they just took photos and videos. Obviously we shut all windows and hid inside. By midnight it was hotter than a Turkish brothel and the bees were still there dive bombing the windows.
Has anyone else experienced this?
I have a theory they were attracted to our Mastervolt inverter which hums louder than a Simon and Garfunkle 8 track. I've paid for the electric tonight and not a bee in sight

 

[Figaro]

DBK ?

Devon Bee Keeper may have some ideas of the reason
I know bees do move en mass and congregate in or on something for a time before dispersing.
I've no idea if your inverter could be attracting them, never heard of anything like that.

BTW

 

[L' Hobo]

It sounds as if it was a swarm of bees, SWARMING. (Looking for a new home) if you had called the local bee club, they would have been more than happy to have dealt with the situation.

 

[vanVhome]

Honey bee swarms will land anywhere, I've collected swarms off cars, goalposts, fences, trees, outside tables ...... the list goes on.

 

[Norfolk Nige]

It’s the time of year for swarms. There seem to have been more than usual in our part of Norfolk this year. They move on after a day or so. We keep bees and have lost hives in the past when ours have swarmed. They are nothing to worry about.

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[PaulOH]

I'm not surprised the OP was freaked! Rampant bees banging off the side of the van for hours - clearly not reality but it reminds me of this:

 

[L' Hobo]

It’s the time of year for swarms. There seem to have been more than usual in our part of Norfolk this year. They move on after a day or so. We keep bees and have lost hives in the past when ours have swarmed. They are nothing to worry about.

That's interesting, I thought they swarmed when a new born Queen was kicked out by the old Queen and the old Queen stayed (or the other way round)
I thought there was still a colony left in the hive?

 

[suavecarve]

That's interesting, I thought they swarmed when a new born Queen was kicked out by the old Queen and the old Queen stayed (or the other way round)
I thought there was still a colony left in the hive?

What you say is correct but the remaining bees only have a limited time to bolster supplies for winter so not an immediate loss but one that puts them in danger.

There should be enough honey and bees remaining to allow them to swarm though

 

[Landy Andy]

Interesting to read this. We had a very similar experience many years ago whist staying on the Norfolk coast. All of a sudden swarms and swarms appeared and were all over us. But having killed a few and looked at them they weren’t bees but something that looked very similar

 

[Shrimp]

Never intentionally kill a Bee, they will only sting if it’s life or death and if they do sting it is death-for them!
Heard a lot of noise out walking couple weeks ago, finally saw the swarm, high up in a tree!

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[Norfolk Nige]

That's interesting, I thought they swarmed when a new born Queen was kicked out by the old Queen and the old Queen stayed (or the other way round)
I thought there was still a colony left in the hive?

That’s true, but it tends to be during May and June. Sometimes there is a colony left, but sometimes not as we have found out to our cost.

 

[DBK]

That's interesting, I thought they swarmed when a new born Queen was kicked out by the old Queen and the old Queen stayed (or the other way round)
I thought there was still a colony left in the hive?

No, it's the other way round. The old queen takes flight and takes about half the colony with her. They will fly (usually) a short distance and then the queen will stop somewhere, on a branch or stone wall and the bees in the swarm will cluster around her. Scouts then fly off looking for a suitable place to set up the new nest, such as a hole in a tree or if you are unlucky in your attic. They look at several places and come to a committee decision which is the best at which point they all up sticks and fly to the new home. It might take a day or more before this happens.

Meanwhile back in the original hive there will have been queen cells produced before the swarm left. One or more new queens will emerge and often they will fight amongst themselves until only one remains. At this point she will leave the hive and mate with several drones in flight. This happens at usually the same place year after year, the drones and queens just know where to congregate.

Sometimes, instead of fighting one or more of the new queens will take flight and take a small number of bees with her. These swarms can be tiny, tennis ball sized, and rarely set up a successful colony as there are too few of them.

 

[stellarog]

Thank you all. Great Bee knowledge!

 

[bigwood]

I was called out to a car with a flat battery in a farm yard. It was an estate car belonging to a local bee keeper that had collected a swarm out of a piece of farm equipment. He show me the swarm in the back of his car and said they were ok to be driven back to his hives in the next village.
I am not sure about driving with that lot in the car but he seemed quite happy as he drove off. He did give me a jar of honey from his hives. I havnt tasted better since.

 

[suavecarve]

I was called out to a car with a flat battery in a farm yard. It was an estate car belonging to a local bee keeper that had collected a swarm out of a piece of farm equipment. He show me the swarm in the back of his car and said they were ok to be driven back to his hives in the next village.
I am not sure about driving with that lot in the car but he seemed quite happy as he drove off. He did give me a jar of honey from his hives. I havnt tasted better since.

Driving with a swarm of bees in the car was concerning to start with. Big suit on, signs saying "keep back nuclear waste" helped as it looked from behind as if this may be true !
But if bees do escape from the carry hive (and they do).they always go to the rear window allowing you time to wet yourself slow the vehicle down, possibly put the handbrake on and run like like a little girl.

Obviously I would have been far too cool to run