Bee Swarm Followed a Car for Two Days to Reach Its Trapped Queen

The Telegraph

In spring 2016 a swarm of roughly 20,000 honey bees settled on the back of a car in Haverfordwest, a market town in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, and refused to leave it. The likely reason, according to a local beekeeper, was simple: their queen had become stuck in a gap on the car’s boot, and a swarm goes wherever its queen goes. When the driver went home, some of the bees went too, and the beekeepers had to be called a second time.

The story was shared around the world as a tale of loyal bees “rescuing” their queen. The real explanation is less romantic but more interesting, and it says a lot about how honey bee colonies work, why swarms happen, and what to do if you ever find one on your own car or garden fence.

(The video originally embedded here is no longer available on YouTube.)

What happened in Haverfordwest

The car belonged to a local woman, Carol Howarth, who had parked in the town centre to run errands. While she was away, a large brown cluster of bees formed on the rear of the vehicle, close to a pub. Tom Moses, a resident who was driving past, noticed the crowd of onlookers slowing down to take photos. He later told reporters it was “spectacular”, but he was also worried that someone might panic or harm the bees, so he contacted local beekeepers.

Volunteers from Pembrokeshire Beekeepers came out and coaxed much of the swarm away, and for a while it looked as if the incident was over. It was not. Howarth reported that the next day bees had turned up again on her car at home, so she called the beekeepers back.

Roger Burns of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers explained to the press what the team believed had happened: the queen had probably been drawn to something on the car, perhaps a sweet residue, and had crawled into a small gap near the wiper blade or the hinge of the boot. Unable to get out, she stayed with the car, and the workers stayed with her. In the end the queen was freed and the swarm was collected, so bees and queen were reunited.

Press reports at the time described the bees as following the car for two days. It is more accurate to say that a cluster stayed attached to the car, and bees kept finding it, across two days and two locations.

Why the bees stayed with the car

The key is not loyalty in the human sense but chemistry. A honey bee queen constantly produces a blend of scents, often called queen pheromone, which workers pass around the colony as they touch and groom her. That scent tells the colony that a laying queen is present, keeps workers from raising rivals, and, during a swarm, works like a beacon that holds thousands of insects together.

When a swarm leaves its old hive, it does not fly straight to a new home. It settles somewhere nearby, often on a branch, post or, occasionally, a vehicle, and forms a tight cluster around the queen. If the queen is not in that cluster, the bees become restless and search for her. If she is stuck somewhere, they will gather around that spot. A queen wedged into a car boot therefore turns the car into the swarm’s temporary base, wherever it is parked.

Bees that flew off to explore or forage would also have used scent and landmarks to find the cluster again. That is why a car that moved a few kilometres could still attract the swarm: the queen, and her signal, travelled with it.

Swarming: how honey bee colonies reproduce

Swarming is how a honey bee colony multiplies. It happens mostly in late spring and early summer, when a strong colony is crowded and has plenty of food. Workers raise new queens, and shortly before the first of them emerges, the old queen leaves with a large share of the workers to start a new colony. The bees left behind keep the hive, the stored honey and the developing brood, and one of the new queens takes over.

Before leaving, the old queen is fed less so that she slims down enough to fly. The departing bees fill up on honey, which gives them fuel for a few days. Once they have settled in a cluster, a few dozen scout bees head off to inspect possible nest sites such as hollow trees or wall cavities. Back at the cluster they “vote” with the famous waggle dance, and when enough scouts agree on one site, the whole swarm lifts off and flies there together.

A swarm usually rests at its stopover for a few hours to a day or two, and rarely more than about three days. The Welsh swarm’s two-day stay on and around a car fits that pattern, except that the queen could not leave even if the scouts had found a new home.

Are honey bee swarms dangerous?

A hanging mass of 20,000 bees looks alarming, but swarms are generally among the calmest bees you will ever meet. They have no comb, no honey store and no young to defend, and they are full of food. Their focus is on staying with the queen and finding a home.

That does not mean they cannot sting. Bees will defend themselves if they are swatted, sprayed, shaken or crushed, and a person who is allergic to stings should keep well away. But beekeepers routinely collect swarms with little more than a box and a gentle brush, which is why Tom Moses’ instinct to call experts rather than let passers-by intervene was the right one.

What to do if a swarm lands on your car or property

• Keep a calm distance. Move people and pets away and do not try to drive through or brush off the swarm.
• Do not spray it. Insecticide or water will agitate the bees and kill many that a beekeeper could rehome.
• Call a swarm collector. In the UK the British Beekeepers Association lists local swarm collectors; elsewhere, local beekeeping clubs or council pest services can usually put you in touch with someone.
• Check that they are honey bees. Wasps, bumblebees and solitary bees do not form swarms like this, and a collector will usually ask for a photo.
• Look for a trapped queen. If a cluster keeps returning to the same object, as in Haverfordwest, a beekeeper may need to search for a queen caught in a gap or seam.

If anyone is stung and has trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, or feels faint, treat it as an emergency and get medical help at once. For any other concern about stings, talk to a doctor or pharmacist.

Myths the story revived

“The bees chased the car to rescue their queen”

The bees were not pursuing the vehicle like a car chase in a film, and they had no plan to free her. They were doing what swarms always do, staying close to their queen’s scent. Calling it a rescue is a nice headline but not what happened biologically.

“Honey bee decline is caused by one weedkiller”

Some versions of the story blamed falling bee numbers on glyphosate herbicides. That is an oversimplification. The US Environmental Protection Agency and most bee researchers point to several stresses acting together: parasites such as the varroa mite and the viruses it spreads, other diseases, poor nutrition from loss of flowering habitat, pesticide exposure, and management and weather problems. Pesticides are part of the picture, but no single chemical explains colony losses.

“Honey bees are close to extinction”

Managed honey bees are kept by millions of beekeepers, and colony numbers worldwide have actually grown over recent decades, even though beekeepers in many countries face high winter losses. The more serious long-term worry concerns wild pollinators, including many species of bumblebee and solitary bee, which have no beekeeper replacing lost colonies. Planting flowers, leaving some untidy wild corners and cutting unnecessary pesticide use helps both.

Why this small story still matters

A stuck queen and a puzzled driver made for an amusing week in Pembrokeshire. It is also a reminder that a swarm is not an attack but a colony in the middle of reproducing, and that the best response is patience and a phone call to someone who knows bees. The beekeepers’ quick work meant thousands of insects survived to start a new colony instead of being sprayed in a car park.

Sources: Original reporting in the UK press, including The Telegraph (2016), as summarised by Treehugger and True Activist; Wikipedia: Swarming (honey bee); US EPA: Colony Collapse Disorder. Photo: The Telegraph.

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