Branch Picnic is swarmed by Honeybees!

 Liz was assigned to set up branch activities to bring the two branches into one.  First activity was a picnic in the Maribor city park, a lovely park with a nice playground, lakes, walking paths, lawns, spreading trees and flowers.   As Saturday dawned the weather was iffy, but the forecast was good.

We left early to pick up game equipment: balls, ropes, badminton net, fishing pond, prizes, food, etc.  We chose the spot and started setting up.  We were joined shortly by the elders from Celje and one sister.  They had come on the train, and we had expected 5 or 6 members instead of just 1.  It was a lovely day and we started visiting and getting to know each other.  Maribor members came by, most of them late, but welcome whenever they arrived.  Last to arrive was the Branch President.

As for me, I was distracted when the air just by where we were gathered was suddenly full of thousands of honeybees flying in a giant, swirling ball.  It was a swarm, so they were looking for a home.  I walked into the middle of the flying swarm and watched them for quite a while.  I noticed right away that quite a few of them were landing on a sapling and its support-stakes, but they did not stay - they just landed for a moment and then took off again.  This is typical bee consensus gathering.

I haven't actually seen a bee swarm in flight for probably 40 or 50 years, although I have seen many of them settled on a bush or tree or porch.  So, I was quite excited.  I took people over to show them and explain that bees are harmless at this time of their life cycle.

As I continued to watch, I saw bees starting to settle high up in a pine tree, but not as many as on the sapling.  Eventually, the swarm settled onto the sapling and then onto one of the support stakes.  It is nearly impossible to photograph a swarm in the air, because they are spread out too much, but once settled they are easy.

At this point in time there was still a cluster of bees on a branch of the sapling, but most were on the stake.

Here they are, all settled down on the stake.  The weather was getting cloudy and a storm was approaching.

President Fidler was very interested in all this and we stood right next to it for 15-20 minutes discussing it.  He called a friend of his who might be interested in boxing the swarm.  A swarm is money in the bank for a beekeeper.

I was so excited over the bee swarm that I did not take a single photo of the picnic.  It was good, but not as well attended as we'd hoped.  We are doing the same thing in Celje next month, so hopefully that one will go better.

And I promise to take photos.