Harvestman at Large
The swarm
I came across this on the ground close to the beehives at Pentwyn Farm Gwent Wildlife Trust nature reserve. Looks like a queen made a bid for freedom, taking her entourage with her. They got about 20 feet from the hives. Given the weather I expect they were hit by a sudden rain shower, and took refuge on a stem of rosebay willowherb. Unfortunately that collapsed under the weight of bees, leaving this 'bee brick' about a foot long. I've never seen a bee swarm before, but I do know that they tend to be pretty placid when like this, and I was able to approach right up to touching distance.
A local beekeeper was summoned, who decided that he would stick a box over them for the night (it was quite late in the day) and sort them out in the morning. He said they would be fine.
The swarm
I came across this on the ground close to the beehives at Pentwyn Farm Gwent Wildlife Trust nature reserve. Looks like a queen made a bid for freedom, taking her entourage with her. They got about 20 feet from the hives. Given the weather I expect they were hit by a sudden rain shower, and took refuge on a stem of rosebay willowherb. Unfortunately that collapsed under the weight of bees, leaving this 'bee brick' about a foot long. I've never seen a bee swarm before, but I do know that they tend to be pretty placid when like this, and I was able to approach right up to touching distance.
A local beekeeper was summoned, who decided that he would stick a box over them for the night (it was quite late in the day) and sort them out in the morning. He said they would be fine.