5,000 bees swarm Topshop window in central London

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A swarm of 5,000 bees have colonised the window of a shop in the middle of London.

The insects caused a buzz when they nested on a sign on the window of Topshop in Victoria Street.

The Queen bee landed on the unusual nesting place and was quickly followed by her colony, turning the window into a carpet of buzzing bees.

Scores of Londoners stopped to take photographs of the unusual sight, in the heart of busy central London.

Tony Mann, a project manager at nearby John Lewis and a trained bee keeper, dashed over to the shop to help lead efforts to smoke the European honeybee colony out.

Mr Mann, who donned a white bee keeping costume and netted hat for the tricky task, said: "We have either had a virgin Queen or an old Queen, she has left the nest and she has brought the warm and settled on the shop front."

He said some of the bees were flying around the area "like scouts to try to find out where the next best place to go is".

Adding: "We are going to smoke them into a box and encourage them to stay there and we will remove them later today."

Asked where the bees will be taken, he said: "They will go to whoever wants a hive. We need bees in London as much as we need them on the countryside. Bees are a keystone species. These are European honeybees."

It is common for honeybees to swarm and set up a new hive during the spring time.



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