Bee on the bonnet! Shop manager’s alarm after finding a swarm of thousands of bees covering their brand new orange car – sparking fears they may have to abandon it
- Pest control expert drafted in to help after bees make car their temporary home
- Beekeepers warn of spike in swarms of bees due to increasingly hot weather
A stunned shop manager feared they would have to abandon their brand new car after finding thousands of bees covering its bodywork.
Kass Thomas left the bright orange Vauxhall Mokka in a car park before discovering that the huge swarm of insects had made it their temporary home.
The 22-year-old, who uses they/them pronouns, had bought the 4×4 motor just three days before the incident, in Northwich, Cheshire.
And after being confronted by the bees, Ms Thomas had joked: ‘How much is this car worth?’ The bees can have it.’
Luckily, concerned business owners had alerted a pest control expert soon after the bees arrived, and he managed to usher them into a hive using smoke.
Ms Thomas gives a thumbs up after pest control expert Chris Bowyer arrives to save the day
Ms Thoms was then able to drive away unhurt from the incident approximately eight hours later.
They said: ‘When I was returning to my car, I was thinking ‘There are loads of bees about, that’s weird. Maybe there is a hive nearby?’
‘And when I turned up at the carpark, I then found it was covered in them.
‘I had bought it on Saturday, and I was starting to think ‘How much is this car worth?’ The bees can have it’ at that point.
‘But my partner is extremely fond of bees. They said it was the best thing ever to happen.’
Ms Thomas, from Knutsford, Cheshire, said they had gone to a public car park in Northwich on Monday at 8.45am prior to the incident.
Locals noticed that a huge swarm of bees had attached themselves to Kass’s new car
But just a few hours later, locals had begun noticing that the huge swarm of bees had attached themselves to their car and covered most of the bodywork.
Ms Thomas said: ‘According to passersby, the bees started gathering there from 10.30am, so they were there for several hours.
‘I returned to my car at about 2pm. There was a pest expert called Chris Bowyer spraying them with smoke and leading them into this hive.
‘From what Chris said, it was very much a chance encounter.
‘The queen probably got tired and then decided to rest on the car, and the swarm followed her. They thought the car was a comfortable place to stay.’
Ms Thomas said there were still bees buzzing around the car when they later returned just after 5pm, forcing them to call in the pest expert again before driving off.
They added: ‘It was about 6pm when I finally got the car back. But there were still some inside.’
Beekeepers have warned that Britain is likely to see a spike in swarms during the summer as the insects move around more due to the hot weather.
Last month, the British Beekeeping Association said searches on its website on the ‘swarm’ page were up 19% and the ‘find a beekeeper page’ traffic was up by 33%.
Source: Read Full Article
