All the gear and no idea!

[For want of a better word]

Late this afternoon I had a call from a " Passing Person with Interest"
saying that there was a swarm of bees terrorising the people in a local car park.
I went to have a look suspecting that either "another swarm collector" ( We seem to have a few around these parts) had been quick to bag his prey.. or the swarm had moved on....

I arrived to find bits of tree scattered across the car park.. and a bunch of bees writhing on the floor.
Looking through I found a bedraggled queen which I caged and placed in a collecting box... bees dutifully struggled into the box.

Yes a chap with "all the gear"... white bee suit and a proper smoker... he dropped all the bees a huge swarm.. into a box and left... was only here 10 minutes... said he was a "Master Beekeeper" apparently!!

Not long after he left there were a lot of bees on the floor so someone decided to drive their car over them!


OMG

Yeghes da

 

[charlievictorbravo]

I had a "waste of time" call yesterday as well. Our Group's swarm coordinator phoned to say that there was a swarm of bees in the lintel of an old house 3 miles from me and would I have a look and take some photos because it looked like a trap-out and he'd like to know the "lay of the land" and what equipment he might need.

The householder had seen what she thought were wasps going into a hole in a an old timber lintel and had called the Council's pest control for help. The Council's pest control sent somebody but did not approach closely to the hole because "she was allergic to bee and wasp stings" (aren't we all, dear). She decided "from their flight pattern" that they were honey bees and that the householder should contact the local beekeepers.

When I got there at 8.30p.m., I saw there insects going in and out of the hole and looked for all the world like wasps, but what with it getting to dusk and viewing through the veil, I thought that they could be very light-coloured bees so I took the pictures and after a few minutes managed to catch one of them which confirmed that it was indeed a wasp.

I told the householder who said she will contact the council on Monday to remove them.

What I cannot understand is why the Council would employ somebody in a pest control role and send them to a reported wasps nest if that person was truly "allergic" to wasp stings - it does not make any sense!

Here are some pictures to illustrate the above.

CVB

 

[Anduril]

I had a "waste of time" call yesterday as well. Our Group's swarm coordinator phoned to say that there was a swarm of bees in the lintel of an old house 3 miles from me and would I have a look and take some photos because it looked like a trap-out and he'd like to know the "lay of the land" and what equipment he might need.

The householder had seen what she thought were wasps going into a hole in a an old timber lintel and had called the Council's pest control for help. The Council's pest control sent somebody but did not approach closely to the hole because "she was allergic to bee and wasp stings" (aren't we all, dear). She decided "from their flight pattern" that they were honey bees and that the householder should contact the local beekeepers.

When I got there at 8.30p.m., I saw there insects going in and out of the hole and looked for all the world like wasps, but what with it getting to dusk and viewing through the veil, I thought that they could be very light-coloured bees so I took the pictures and after a few minutes managed to catch one of them which confirmed that it was indeed a wasp.

I told the householder who said she will contact the council on Monday to remove them.

What I cannot understand is why the Council would employ somebody in a pest control role and send them to a reported wasps nest if that person was truly "allergic" to wasp stings - it does not make any sense!

Here are some pictures to illustrate the above.

CVB

Isn't it a shame that all the councils are useless when it gives advice to the public.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Isn't it a shame that all the councils are useless when it gives advice to the public.

Ha, that's nothing.

I used to have a very good relationship with the local council pest control officer, he would attend to calls and confirm they were honeybees and then call me and give me all the details (position / height / size etc.)
That was ofc before the cuts, now a switchboard refers anyone who even mentions that they might be bees or something to call me direct!!!

The number of people that call me and cannot understand that I don't deal with wasps or bumblebees and NO I don't work for the council!!

I'm about to contact the council and tell them to remove me from their list...

Useless!!!

 

[Itchy]

I was once called to a wasp nest ((as pest control) I dutifully togged up, climbed onto the flat roof and watched a couple of wasps entering the flat roof dormer. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, a honey bee landed with a pollen load. That was a great cut out!