Posted on 05/25/2016 12:07:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
This is the story of a ferocious army determined to rescue their queen from a metal fortress.
Or, viewed another way, a swarm of bees who, for two days, followed their queen bee trapped inside a Mitsubishi Outlander.
The Outlander belongs to Carol Howarth, a 68-year-old grandmother, who had no idea shed picked up a tiny winged passenger when she visited a nature reserve.
Later, when she stopped to go shopping in Haverfordwest, West Wales, the bees descended thousands and thousands of them.
Tom Moses, who works as a Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ranger, was driving by when he happened upon the raid.
Driving through town noticed this going on outside the Lower Three Crowns and couldnt resist getting involved! he wrote in a pun-filled post on his Facebook page.
He was worried someone might do something stupid.
Bees are already dying from habitat loss and terrible farming practices, like pesticide use, he said. The last thing you want is someone to pour boiling water on them to shoo them away from a car.
So, he called in reinforcements the intrepid folks at the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers Association
Youd think that would be the end of the story, but youd be wrong.
The next morning, Howarth found the bees were back, she told The Telegraph.
So once again, out came the beekeepers.
By 6 p.m., her Outlander was free of the bees. (No word though on what happened to the queen.)
Moses says members of colonies often follow their queen bee if she moves hives.
And queens moves hives if the hives are disturbed say, by humans. Or by the arrival of another queen bee.
He speculates the shiny warm Mitsubishi might have seemed like a good option for a new home.
Bees are like chess. It's all about protecting the queen.
Checkmate.
Simple solution:
Drive into a dome stadium and turn the A/C down real low. I saw it in a movie once.
I see what you did there
Trying to blend dontchaknow?
Oh man
Looks like a Chicago Cubs Center Fielder
I'm into action sports.
Like Women's Curling.
Well, you’ve talked me into it . . .
When I was 10 I’d get $2 from our beekeeper landlord for bringing back a swarm like that. (he also taught me how to do it safely.) That was in 1956.
Just a bunch of wanna bees
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