Swarm of bees is removed from Portchester by conservationists

The Great British Bee Project has been called to Pentland Rise and is collecting a swarm that is covering the car and several bushes.

The project is based in Winchester and is the only Queen rearing and colony expansion project, and hopes to reverse the decline of native bee species.

Richard Shaw, who started the project full-time in April, said: ‘We have been called to Portchester for a very late swarm in the season - and the bees were all over cars and bushes in huge clumps.

‘They originated from a chimney - and it is a nest that's been there for over three years.

‘The bees will be placed in a hive and maintained under the project - checked for disease or mites – then next year we will look to breed new colonies from the queen to increase the population of our bees.’

Mr Shaw said that so far the project has bred more than 5m new bees into our eco system, and that it has hives all over the south coast and in Wales.

For more on the project see https://www.thegreatbritishbeeproject.co.uk/ or call 0800 669 6790