Honey Bee Swarm

Brachytron

Brachytron

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Mark
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Eating lunch with the patio doors open, we heard a tremendous buzzing from the garden and saw thousands of honey bees flying around a bush. The queen soon landed on a branch and all the workers followed suit.. We watched fascinated as the scouts went out looking for a new home a returning, with the tail wagging signalling the direction they had been in. They remained over night, so I phoned a local beekeeper who collected them to add to his hives. He estimated that there were 6000+ bees, a small swarm he said! We felt privileged that they chose our garden for a stop-over.

Honey Bee Swarm by Mark Tyrrell, on Flickr

Honey Bee Swarm 2 by Mark Tyrrell, on Flickr
 
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There is something that would have told me
to use a very long lens to take that and from
behing a window if possible. Well done, Mark!
 
Excellent work!

Kodiak, you're really unlikely to be stung when they have swarmed like that. They're far more focused on other things. You can put your hand inside and they ignore you, usually.
Although, just because you can, doesn't mean you should - accidents happen!
 
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James, you're probably (even surely) right but the
word "usually" in your comment keeps me behind
the window with a very long lens aa I know I can't
outrun bees. A snake maybe but not bees!
 
You can outrun bees quite easily. They're not that fast - I think Animal Planet has made them appear more scary than they are, due to the "killer bee" documentaries.
 
I did use 400mm on my 7D2!

They didn't seem to mind our presence and allowed quite a close approach.
 
Brachytron said:
I did use 400mm on my 7D2! They didn't seem to mind our presence and allowed quite a close approach.
Click to expand...
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…at bee scale, the minimum focusing distance
of a 400mm is not a "close approach!" :)
 
Lovely photo and brilliant close up :)

Like James said above swarming bees are very unlikely to sting you - I'm a beekeeper, and a few years ago was due to take the Beekeeper's Basic Exam. It was one of the hottest days of the year, and when I arrived at the venue - a large teaching apiary, a lot of the hives were swarming.

I was a bit distracted, mainly due to nerves - one of the things we had to do was light and keep lit a smoker, which was (and remains) not my best skill. Meaning that I managed to walk straight through a large swarm pouring out of one of the hives without realising! No stings and I think they all even managed to navigate around me!
 
Ooooh I'm not so keep on bees :(
That is damned impressive though.....and brave (imo) :D
 
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