It’s been an interesting day here at Leventhorpe with the unexpected arrival of a bee colony.
Mr Lawrence said, “The bee colony took over an abandoned school jumper on our school AstroTurf pitch. They were seen swarming around a goal post during a PE lesson. We had to call a beekeeper!”
Mr Lawrence was fascinated by the bees and told us that, ‘It was really interesting. I’m the bee fanatic of the department, so I was asking all sorts of questions. I found out that when a new queen is born they leave the hive with a swarm of bees and find somewhere to stay. I also found out that, apparently, bees can tell when a storm is coming. The beekeeper told us that the bees hid in the jumper to get protection from a storm. It was incredible.’
The bees caused some disruption to PE lessons on the day because classes had to be moved away from the bees until the bees could be safely relocated.
Mr Bambury came to the rescue and, donning a beekeeping suit, assisted the beekeeper with relocating the bee colony. This involved ‘smoking’ the bees. Smoking is a process in which bees are made drowsier and therefore can be moved safely.
What happens to the bees now? Once they were safely removed from the now unusable jumper, the bees were taken away by the beekeeper.
‘He took them away and said he’d see if the bees are aggressive or not,’ Mr Lawrence told us. If they aren’t aggressive, the bees can be sold to people who want hives in their gardens. There’s a real community of people who look after bees.
We’re glad that the bees are safe from the storm and on their way to a good home. It’s certainly been a fascinating and informative day!
Always BEE kind to bees!
Opmerkingen