IT is every retailer’s goal to create a bit of a buzz about their shops – which is exactly what Islanders heard outside one St Helier store yesterday…
Beekeepers were called to deal with a swarm that had taken up residence outside Clarks shoe shop, just 24 hours after they had attempted to move the estimated 20,000 bees from the former Topshop premises.
John Deans, a swarm co-ordinator for the Jersey Beekeepers Association, explained that relocating a swarm could take a while, as beekeepers had to ensure that the group was moved in its entirety.
He said that when a beekeeper was called to deal with a swarm, they moved the bees into a temporary home called a ‘skep’, which is similar to a straw basket or box.
However, many of the bees spend time collecting pollen during the day, meaning the skep cannot be removed immediately, or the workers will have no base to which to return.
The skep must be left in its initial location until night-time, when all of the bees have returned, to allow the entire swarm to be moved to a new spot.
However, sometimes bees will decide that they do not like the skep and will instead attempt to find a new home themselves, which is what Mr Deans suggested had happened on Monday night, with the bees relocating from scaffolding outside the former Topshop building and attempting to make a new home outside Clarks.
Mr Deans said that the association relocated about 30 to 40 swarms of bees each year, although he said that such work usually took place in the countryside rather than in town.
However, he added that members of the voluntary organisation were also called out to remove a swarm from the old Mayfair Hotel site recently.
Mr Deans said that anyone who encountered a bee swarm should contact the Jersey Beekeepers Association immediately. He added that Islanders should refrain from spraying swarms with insecticide or water as ‘it is important to preserve the bees’.
