Video Shows Bees Swarming Car With Queen Presumably Trapped Inside For 2 Days
The man who recorded the bees said it was the "best thing to happen" in years.
— -- A park ranger in the United Kingdom captured video of a swarm of bees following a car with its queen presumably trapped inside on Sunday.
Tom Moses, a ranger at the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park in Wales, wrote on Facebook that he "couldn't resist" getting involved because "bees need our help." He was also worried that someone would deal with the swarm in an inadvisable manner, such as "pour boiling water" over them.
The video shows thousands of bees covering the top right corner of the rear of a Mitsubishi Outlander. The swarm returned to the car the next day, he told ABC News via email.
Moses called a total of four beekeepers, he wrote. The first, named Roger, began to sweep the bees into a box but left for a dinner date soon after, Moses wrote. The second beekeeper, Andrew, was "rusty," so Moses backed him up by "watching him and offering encouragement." At first, the bees went into the box "nicely," but then one of them stung.
The bees started to come out of the box again, Moses wrote. He had a beer, when another one stung, he said, adding that Andrew was doing a "great job" at getting the bees back in the box.
But then bees started to come out again, and Andrew could not find the queen. They hypothesized that it was in the box or hiding in the crack between the car's trunk and panel. More stinging ensued.
It is unclear exactly who was stung during the three-hour ordeal.
Moses called a third beekeeper named Jeremy, who was on a Eurostar train ride at the time, but said he would send help. In the meantime, Andrew bought him another beer, he wrote. Then, a "drunk bloke" walked out a nearby pub and swept "a load" of bees off the car with his hand, looking for the queen. He was stung multiple times, Moses wrote.
On came another beekeeper, whose name Moses did not get. He showed up with a "full suit and smokey thing," which may have been used to dissipate the swarm. More stinging occurred, Moses wrote, but he left since everything seemed under control.
Moses wrote a pun-filled Facebook description to accompany the photos he took, saying it was the "best thing to happen in Haverfordwest for years."
Pembrokeshire has been seeing "quite a bit" of bee activity this week, Moses told ABC News, calling the events "unusual" due to the small size of the town. He said it was an "exciting opportunity" to capture the swarm.
Moses has not been in contact with the owner of the car.
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