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The Collection of Honey Bee Swarms in Cambridgeshire

About 200 beekeepers are members of the Cambridgeshire Beekeepers Association (CBKA).  Many of these people may be willing to collect accessible swarms of honey bees from their own locality.  The association maintains a list of members willing to collect and hive swarms but this list is not publicly available.  The list is held by Environmental Health Officers at District Council Offices and by local police stations.  To request the assistance of a beekeeper call one of the contacts listed below.  But if you know a local beekeeper, please contact that person first as the swarm may have come from one of that person’s hives.

There is no obligation on CBKA to provide this service; it is entirely voluntary.  Many members, for whom beekeeping is a hobby, are in full-time employment and may be able to attend only in the evening or at weekends.  The beekeeper may ask for a contribution towards the cost of travel for attending.  The rectification of any damage caused by the collection of the bees is the responsibility of the person seeking assistance.

A beekeeper will not provide assistance for the removal of insects other than honeybees.  It is therefore important to establish the identity of the insects before seeking assistance.  A helpful guide to distinguish between honey bees, bumble bees, other types of bee and wasps is available at www.kentbee.com/faq-bees.htm.  Honey bees are small (13mm x 3mm), light brown to black; wasps are similar in size but clearly striped yellow and black; whereas bumble bees vary in size, from 13-25mm x 5-10mm, are furry and may have white, buff, orange or red posteriors and carry one or two yellow stripes. 

A swarm of honey bees numbers thousands of bees and forms a tight cluster hanging somewhere like on a tree, shrub or wall.  It’s size varies from that of a tennis ball to that of a rugby ball or larger.  Large numbers of bees flying in and out of an opening or feeding on flowers does not constitute a swarm.  Bumble bee and wasp swarms are very rare.

Bumble bees are valuable pollinators, are becoming rare, and should be conserved.  They often nest in holes in the ground.  A colony will die out in the autumn and are unlikely to reappear in the same place the following spring.  Wasps are beneficial insects but can become a nuisance at certain times of year.  Nests of wasps are dealt with by the council or by pest control companies for a fee.

The location of a swarm of honey bees will determine whether it can be collected by a beekeeper.  He/she cannot remove an established colony from within walls, roof, chimney or hollow trees, but may be willing to take an accessible swarm if it is not too high from the ground.  Swarms often move on to a permanent nest site after only a few hours, so please check from time to time that the assistance of a beekeeper is still required.

The following contacts hold the list of beekeepers willing to collect swarms within about 15miles of Cambridge and should be able to give you contact details for a beekeeper in your area:

Cambridge City Council                              01223 457890

East Cambs District Council                        01353 616283

Fenland District Council                              01354 622474

South Cambs District Council                      08450 450063

Cambridgeshire Police                                 08454 564560

Pauline Aslin, Wimpole (CBKA)                  01223 208035

Doug Brown, St. Neots (CBKA)                 01480 214640

Bill Clark,  Wandlebury (CBKA)                 01223 212902

Peter Dight, St. Ives (CBKA)                      01480 495960

Dick Ramsey, Coton (CBKA)                     01954 210985

Mo Vaughan, Wisbech (CBKA)                  01354 692969

March 2008