If your swarm looks like the above picture, or perhaps like this Lozenge shaped swarm:
Picture Courtesy John Farrow. Or they may look like this huge swarm:
Then they are definitely honeybees and beekeepers will collect them. So click below to find a beekeeper near you.
Swarm Collectors 2024 – Sevenoaks & T. Wells Areas
For other areas click: here [on the map on the RHS].
To add your name to this year’s Swarm Request List click: swarm-request-list.
If however they look like the picture below, they are wasps and beekeepers do not collect these.
They are good for the garden as they feed their brood on greenfly etc… But if they are a nuisance, a pest control officer will deal with them or you can buy a ‘Wasp Spray’ from a hardware store, B & Q or Homebase and spray the foam at the entrance of their nest.
Common Wasp above [& their football sized Nest is pictured below].
This picture was taken on 25th June 2020 in a Kemsing garden shed and may not be totally complete as there are wasps still on the outside!! It was made, probably 2 months ago, initially by the queen who lays worker brood which then hatch and complete the build by rasping away at the shed timber to build this papier mache’ very light structure.
If your bee looks like this, they are bumblebees.
Bumblebee on a sedum courtesy John Farrow.
Bumblebee on Artichoke, Courtesy John Farrow.
They very rarely sting and if you have a nest it will only last a couple of months for all their brood to hatch.
However if they are causing a problem and they are reasonably accessible, beekeepers may re-locate them subject to discussion.
The bees you see flying around the swarm are the scout bees,
who have been negotiating a new home, which could be in a chimney, under roof tiles or outbuildings. If they take up residence in your home this would involve scaffolding and a great deal of time and cost to get them removed!!
To see what’s involved click on Bees in Buildings.
So to avoid this risk, contact the nearest collector from the list below.
Swarm Collectors 2024 – Sevenoaks & T. Wells Areas
For other areas click: here [on the map on the RHS].
We usually make a charge to cover our petrol expenses and time.
Normally we charge £20/25 callout, depending on distance, as this could involve returning in the evening to collect the flying bees, but this is open to discussion with the collector.
If you cannot contact the one nearest to you, then go to the next nearest on this list. Be patient, because during the swarming season all of us may be very busy collecting swarms!
Using an extended swarm catcher and standing on a raised pallet, it appears nothing is too difficult for one of our Intrepid Sevenoaks Team!!
Examples of swarms collected by the Sevenoaks Team in PDF format can be downloaded by clicking the link below:
A Frustrating Day of a Swarm Collector.
Vic Webb Collecting a Swarm 15 ft up a tree.
Swarms removed by the Sevenoaks Team
For a more unusual location and extraction of bees, take a look at these examples: