What should you do if you find a swarm of Honeybees in your garden in West Berkshire?
- Ben the Beekeeper
- Apr 5
- 4 min read
Spring and summer are the prime seasons for bees to swarm — a natural part of their lifecycle. If you suddenly find a large cluster of buzzing insects in your garden, it can be alarming, but don't panic! Swarming bees are usually quite docile, and help is just a phone call away.
Here’s what to do if you think you’ve found a swarm:
🧘♀️ Step 1. Stay Calm and Keep Your Distance
Swarms may look scary, but bees in a swarm are usually at their most peaceful — they’ve gorged on honey before leaving their hive and are focused on finding a new home. However, they can be unpredictable.
Don’t try to move them yourself.
Don’t disturb them by poking or prodding.
Do give them space and keep children and pets away.
🐝 Step 2 Are They Actually Honey Bees?
Honey Bees are the only type of bees that Swarm so if you see them arrive and settle into a ball they will be honey bees - a swarm in flight can sound like an airplane engine. If you don't see them arrive, calling for help, try to identify what you’re looking at.
Honey bees are typically golden-brown with darker bands, and slightly fuzzy.
A swarm often looks like a football-sized clump of bees hanging from a tree branch, fence post, or even a garden bench. It might also appear as a noisy cloud of bees in the air, gradually settling into a mass.
If there are small numbers coming and going, and the bees look large and fluffy there are likely to be bumblebees. Bumblebees love finding places like birdboxes to live in,
Wasps and hornets are more aggressive-looking, sleeker, and less hairy. They do not swarm in the same way honey bees do. These need to dealt with by an experienced pest controller.
Not sure? Send us a short video on Whatsapp and we can help identify. It doesn't need to be too close up - we can normally tell from the way they fly what type of bees they are.
📞 Step 3. Call a beekeeper!
In West Berkshire, Ben's Berkshire Bees offer a free swarm collection service for honey bees when we are available. We focus on areas within about 15 minute drive of Thatcham.
We would recommend using someone who knows what they are doing and are insured if it goes wrong. We see many adverts from beginners offering to collect swarms and from time to time end up going to sort out the mess that can be made. We will rehome swarms to beginners, who have been appropriately trained, in the Newbury Beekeepers.,
Generally a beekeeper should leave a container until the evening to gather the bees that our out flying. If they take the majority but leave those out on scouting flights you can end up with lots of confused bees buzzing around. There are times when the only option is to take them early but generally it should be expected that a return visit later in the day will happen
We are also part of the Newbury and District Swarm line, which is a team of local beekeepers who help collect swarms of bees.
If you are outside of West Berkshire you can visit the BBKA Swarm Collectors Map to find your nearest beekeeper:🔗 www.bbka.org.uk/swarm
When we come we will try and encourage the bees into a box!
🐝 Why Beekeepers Collect Swarms
Swarming is a natural process where a honey bee colony reproduces by creating a second colony. Beekeepers are keen to collect swarms to:
To reduce the impact of our beekeeping on the public. At Ben's Berkshire Bees we aim to lose as few swarms as possible, we want// to help maintain the goodwill for beekeepers.
Prevent bees from settling in unwanted places like chimneys or wall cavities.
Re-home the bees in a managed hive where they can thrive and be cared for.
It's quite a fun part of beekeeping.
The vast majority of beekeepers do not charge for swarm collection. We don't want our bees to swarm so there is a large element of Karma in not profiting from others misfortune.
We have collected over 40 swarms in the few years, a few memorable ones included:
A colony that had moved into a line painting lorry in a depot in Thatcham. They were in the casing of the large warning sign at the back of the lorry - apparently it had been out line painting with them in it.
A colony that had moved into a hedgehog house. We posted a news post about that in the past.
Being called to a school on the edge of Reading twice on consecutive days for different swarms and then again the following year - all the swarms were in the exact same location.
A perfect swarm - we went to a swarm in Newbury that was hanging on a weeping willow branch. It was a good size and went in the box in a single snip of the branch.
💡 What If They’re Not Honey Bees?
If it turns out they are wasps, hornets, or bumblebees, a beekeeper won’t be able to remove them. However, we can often help identify them and advise you on what to do next.
Wasps or hornets: Call a local pest control service.
Bumblebees: These are important species for the UK. Unlike Honeybees they can't be relocated easily and often the nest will die out if it is. It is best to leave them to naturally move on which they will do a after a few months at most.
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