The swarm had been there for almost 24 hours. It was not big, and they were not particularly well huddled up. There may well have been scouts going out looking for the new home. But there were certainly no signs of them being ready to move on.

My darling beekeeper started by scooping a bunch of bees onto a frame. Then placed the frame in a nuc box which he hung from the higher rungs of the ladder. It’s always difficult working at height because your own safety has to come first.

We lost a few bees into the bush below. With the benefit of hindsight, one of them may have been the queen. This is because the bees seemed to be flying aimlessly around. They were in and out the nuc box, and certainly not acting like new home owners about to start unpacking.

After a while we decided to lower the box and stand it on the hedge where a lot of bees had fallen. It took quite some time but eventually they started behaving like they had a purpose. And they started crowding towards the door. We assume the queen eventually crawled out of the bush and into the nuc.

It was a slow but worthwhile job, and eventually we were ready to depart with them in the boot of the car.

And now they are nicely settled in their new home. 🥰🐝