Compost Bin Lodgers

It’s not only worms to be found in compost bins: this one in a back garden in St Catherine’s Crescent had been occupied by a swarm of honey bees!

The bees had taken up residence and were already in the business of furnishing their new home with wax honeycomb:

A team of volunteer beekeepers arrived to repatriate them to a more amenable environment:

The bees were gently moved out of the hive using a dustpan and brush (traditional beekeeping equipment!)…

… and into a straw skep ready for transporting to their new home:

Two of the beekeepers in the picture were beginners and this was their first experience of collecting a swarm. After this unusual initiation into the craft of beekeeping the pair took the bees away in the skep and introduced them into a nice comfortable beehive sited on their nearby farm.

Happy endings all round!

Pictures by Gillian Gunner.