A swarm of bees

This afternoon our bees swarmed. We under-estimated how well they were doing and, having got a bit over-crowded in the hive, they must have made another queen. Today she emerged, flew and took half the colony with her. It was quite a sight and sound - the garden was full of bees flying in every direction and buzzing incessantly, just like the vuvuzelas.

After about 10 minutes the swarm drifted out into the field and began to congregate on this post and rail. Once they had settled they were very calm - Lauren was able to put her hand right into the swarm without them taking any notice. I didn't count them, but I reckon there are thousands of them, perhaps up to 5,000, all working and communicating with astonishing efficiency and purpose.

The box strapped to the fence is a nucleus hive - eventually the bees made their way into it and we moved them back to where we want them. Now we have 2 colonies!