Stunned passers-by saw an unusual sight when they visited Salford - a woman using her bare hands to capture a swarm of bees! Damson Tregaskis was filmed as she tried to move the mass of insects which had settled on a tree.
Damson is a beekeeper who goes by the name of Hive5Mcr on Twitter. She told the Manchester Evening News how her help was enlisted to move the buzzing creatures.
She was spotted on Tuesday afternoon as she tried to catch the insects. Wearing just a protective suit, but with bare hands, she was filmed as she tried to capture the bees outside Costa Coffee at MediaCityUK. It shows her surrounded by thousands of bees as she tried to get them inside a box so she could relocate them.
At one point she turns to onlookers and says: "Does anyone fancy giving me a hand?" She then added - "I have a spare suit."
The film was shared on Twitter, where Den Glanzig wrote: "Wasn't expecting this when I popped to MediaCity UK for my lunch." He went on to say: "It caught me off guard at first.
"I didn't notice them at first as I walk past those trees everyday. On the way back past later on, the lady was there collecting them so I stopped to watch."
Damson, who runs site Hive5Manchester, which offers community engagement events and beekeeper mentoring classes, said she collected the swarm of bees and rehomed them in an apiary in her Stockport garden. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, she said: "There was a swarm of bees at MediaCity that someone notified me about. In the video I'm collecting them from the tree then setting them up in our home apiary in Stockport.
"I'm a professional beekeeper and usually manage beehives for corporate clients, as well as doing beekeeping courses and experiences." She added that she will be sharing updates on her Twitter page.
According to the British Beekeepers Association, a honeybee colony will swam to reproduce when the old queen leaves a colony with some of the bees. They leave their hive and find a spot to wait in until scout bees decide on a new home for the colony.
Most honey bee swarms are not aggressive, but people are asked to stay away from them as a precaution. It usually happens on sunny days between the months of May and July.
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