The world has a bee shortage: But in Hawke's Bay, they swarm

There was a strange sight at the Taradale shops on Thursday, when a swarm of bees flew down the street and landed on a tree.

Megan Nattrass , who works at Glenns Pharmacy, said she was serving a customer around mid-morning when she saw the bees.

"We looked out the door and there was just this swarm, they were all flying."

"Then they started coming in the shop, so we had to shut the door."

"They were hanging around for probably 20 minutes and then they started landing, so I think the queen had obviously found this tree."

She said she had never seen anything like it before.

"I've been out here for ages, never seen anything like it."

Nattrass was the one to shoo the bees inside the pharmacy out, and said there were a few squeals from some of the other staff.

Bee enthusiast Rick Graham, who removed the bees, said swarms were not uncommon at this time of year.

He said during spring, nature expands - bees run out of room in the hives - meaning swarms can form.

He said the swarm could be removed from a tree by surrounding the branch they landed on and then either shaking or clipping the branch to get the bees in the box.

The box then has to be left in the same spot to ensure any bees off flying at the time, make it back.

"As long as you've got the queen in the box you seem to be OK," Graham said.

He said the best thing to do if you see a bee swarm in Hawke's Bay is to leave it alone and call Arataki Honey, who could pass the details on to a bee keeper in the area to come and sort it out.

He said there was a world shortage of bees, so it would be a shame if they were killed by a pest eradication company.