Capturing a Bee Swarm

Yesterday we noticed something odd hanging in the Japanese Maple by the pond in the front garden. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a small swarm of bees.

I rang a neighbour, who is a beekeeper, and he arrived shortly afterwards with a colleague to capture the swarm. No bees or humans were injured in the process as far as I could see…

Not all the bees were captured in the box, there were still some flying about in the Maple. Johan said that the smell of the queen was still present in the tree, and they were trying to find the queen. The smell would eventually dissipate and this morning there were no bees to be seen there.