Swarms & local Beekeepers

Beekeepers do not, and are not obliged to, provide a service to the general public or local authorities to remove bees. However, as a gesture of goodwill and in furtherance of the promotion of good environmental practice, some members will remove swarms of honeybees which are reasonably accessible. In previous years a high proportion of calls referred to our swarm co-ordinators involved insects other than honeybees or were inaccessible. As those beekeepers who collect swarms are volunteers and may incur travel and time expenditure unnecessarily, we believe that a some filter should be applied before calling beekeepers or beekeeping organisations. To this end we have produced a sequence of questions which may be of help to identify the insects and help with dealing with them appropriately.

1 Your name, address and contact telephone number.    
2 Location of the insects if different.    
  bbullet    Does it fly? No see note 1
    Yes go to 3
3 Size    
  bbullet    Smaller than little finger?   see note 1
  bbullet    Same size or larger than thumbnail?   see note 1
  bbullet    Approx same size as little finger nail?   go to 4
4 Colour    
  bbullet    Yellow, black, brown with white bands?   see note 1
  bbullet    Red or reddish brown bands?   see note 1
  bbullet    Yellow, brown, black with or without bands?   go to 5
5 Behavior    
  bbullet     In a bank or lawn with little volcanoes of sand outside?   see note 1
  bbullet    Going to and fro to one area in particular?   see note 2
  bbullet    Leaving spats of mud on wall?   see note 1
  bbullet    In the eaves or soffits?   see note 3
  bbullet     Hanging in pear shaped cluster from a branch?   go to 6
  bbullet    In a hedge or bush in a dense clump?   go to 6
6 How many    
  bbullet     Are there numbers of individual insects flying around?   see note 2
  bbullet     Less than 10 going to and from one area in particular?   see note 1
  bbullet     More than 50 going to and from one area in particular?   see note 2
  bbullet    Were they in a large diffuse cloud?   go to 7
  bbullet    Are they in a compact group?    
  bbullet    Less than a tea cup?   see note 6
  bbullet    Bigger than a loaf of bread?   see note 4
7 When    
  bbullet    What time of day did they appear?    
  bbullet    Today?    
  bbullet    In the last few days?    
  bbullet    Have they been there for some weeks?    
8 Where    
  In the open –    
  On a branch of a tree or bush?   go to 9
  In a hollow tree?   go to 9
  In a compost heap   see note 1
  In a bird box?   see note 1
  In a hole in the ground?   see note 1
  In a grey or brown paper like nest?   see note 5
  In a building or structure –    
  In or on a chimney?   see note 3
  In a wall?   see note 3
  Through an air brick?   see note 3
  In a roof space?   see note 3a
  In a dog kennel or shed?   go to 9
9 How high    
  bbullet    On the ground?   see note 4
  bbullet    Less than 2 metres from the ground?   see note 4
  bbullet    Between 2 and 4 metres from the ground?   see note 3a
  bbullet    More than 4 metres from the ground?   see note 3
  Notes    
  1. Not honeybees. Leave alone – no risk    
  2. Honeybees foraging on a good source of nectar. e.g. cotoneaster, not a swarm    
  3. Honeybees but not accessible – contact commercial operatives    
  3a. Honeybees but may not be accessible – contact a swarm coordinator and describe the location in some detail    
  4. Honeybees – contact a swarm coordinator    
  5. Wasps – refer to pest removal    
  6. A small cast – leave alone, will probably disperse in a day or two