Thousands of honey bees descend on Wigan house in freak event

Valerie Freeman, from Kimberly Street in Springfield, received a phonecall at work from husband Ken to let her know that he would be unable to pick her up a large swarm of insects was flying all around their front garden and covering their car.

Mrs Freeman said: “When I came home I couldn’t believe it.

"We don’t know where they came from and why they all decided to settle on our wall.

"We called the council but they advised us to wait 48 hours while they settle, then to ring them back and they would come and use some pesticide.

“But we didn’t want that to happen to them.

"A friend from work put me in touch with a beekeeper, Beni Dawber, so I messaged him on Facebook and he said he’ll be there in 15 minutes, and he was.

"He told us they were honey bees, because we thought they were wasps or masonry bees, and that there were around 20,000 of them.

"He brought a temporary hive with him and he managed to get them all into it within about an hour. It was marvellous.

"He put the queen inside the hive first and then they all just followed her into the box.

"He left it over night and closed the hole up, then came and picked them up the next morning to put them in a new hive on his allotment.”