Dear Sir,
On Friday 14th August, whilst out on a morning stroll, I spotted a rather large clump/nest of honey bees, not too high up in a crab apple tree near the blue bridge on St. Cuthbert’s Way. With the nest being so close to housing and a public footpath and was somewhat reachable, I decided that these bees should be taken care of properly and given a home rather than just hang around in a tree.
So, I contacted Darlington Beekeepers Association and sent them a photo of the sheer size of the nest, to which they responded immediately and met up with me at the site and began the process of nest removal – a very patient removal at that.
As I was somewhat interested to see how they removed it, I stayed close by, but not too close. It was estimated that there was around 40 thousand bees and even though I kept my distance, a few still landed on me to enquire. Amidst my panic, I was instructed to remain as still as possible as they really don’t want to sting me unless they have to, unless I aggravate them into doing it.
All in all, it was a very interesting process and quite time consuming as they had to wait for an entire colony of bees to find and protect the queen inside a box. Whilst waiting, I became educated on the life of honey bees and the voluntary work carried out by the Beekeeping Society in the removal and collection of bees nests around the area, which they’ve collected quite a lot this year from peoples back gardens due to more people being at home and noticing them.
If anyone should see a clump or a nest of bees, don’t panic!
Don’t disturb them either, simply contact Darlington Beekeepers Association on 07394 626641 for swarm info and they’ll do the rest. For more information visit:
www.darlingtonbeekeepersassociation.org.uk
Bill Gibson
