It has been a warm and sunny week.
People walking through the Abbey Gateway gave St Nicolas church a wide berth at lunchtime today.
A swarm of bees looked to be setting up home and the air was full of them. Somebody said the bees had not been there five minutes before.
I did ask at the district council whether their pest control people could take a quick look, but was told they don’t have a pest control department anymore.
Somebody else said they were probably mortar bees – not honey bees, and so their sting could not penetrate human skin.
I think they’re an annual occurrence, they were certainly seen last year, and in previous years.
For more information on Mortar Bees try
http://www.stockport.gov.uk/services/environment/
envhealth/pestcontrol/commonpests/mortarmasonrybees/
or
https://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-qas/technical-qa-17-masonry-bees/
We recently came across the same type of bees at The Fox, Boars Hill – fascinating watching them busying around going in and out of the stone wall.
Even though they may not sting, I’ve heard they can do untold damage to the brickwork. The Fox wall they had inhabited was riddled with holes.
They destroy Mortar already ‘decayed’ Some stronger females are allegeded to be able to start scratching away at new sound mortar
They burrow into it enlarging the burrows/cavity, before sealing the eggs/larvae in. I suspect St Nics will have more repointing to do. (Some councils won’t destroy them. – but may move the swarm, to allow repointing).
finally, the town was buzzing on a weekday afternoon!
Perhaps the bees just hadn’t seen the flower beds…?
Depressingly they’ve been sprayed with something and are now dead or gone. They’ve been in residence several years and once the swarm had moved on posed no threat or annoyance to anyone. Bees are vital to our wellbeing and are in serious decline. They were honey bees not solitary bees.
Look like honeybees to me (I am a beekeeper). Council should know to call local beekeeping association first to see if collecting them is viable, may have been too high up or inaccessible. Shame to kill them, I’d have loved to have collected a nice looking swarm early in the season!