If you get a bit jittery when a bug makes its way into the house, or still haven’t gotten over the bee scene from My Girl — then brace yourself. You’re not going to like this.
Because a giant swarm of bees is taking over London.
While it all sounds pretty creepy, parts of the bee invasion are actually kind of adorable. Let me explain.
A 5000-strong swarm of honeybees decided to nest outside Topshop in central London on Friday. They weren’t really hurting anyone at first; the Queen bee just picked the bright Topshop sign to land on. And why wouldn’t she?
Anyway, everything was going fine, until her entire colony followed her and started flying over people’s heads, according to The Telegraph.
Tourists and shoppers started freaking out because even though it’s common for honeybees to set up new hives in random places during spring, they kind of looked menacing and, let’s be honest, quite a lot like a biblical plague.
Shopper Lara Buckle was one of the many people trapped in Topshop for half an hour while the queen and her colony sent central London into a buzz of panic, The Evening Standard reports.
“All of a sudden there were thousands and thousands of bees flying around,” Lara said.
“You could hardly see the sky because there were so many.”
She also “ducked for cover afraid of being attacked,” according to The Evening Standard.
To be fair, that does sound almost exactly like an Alfred Hitchcock film. Utterly terrifying, but also kind of… pretty?
The colony didn’t stay outside Topshop for long, because Tony Mann, who works near by, gently guided the bees away.
Tony, who just happens to be a trained beekeeper when he’s not working at John Lewis, donned a white bee keeping costume and netted hat (which, presumably he was keeping just in case) and helped smoke the European honeybee colony out.
In doing so, he provided some frankly endearing commentary to local reporters. For example, according to The Telegraph, he said some of the bees were flying around the area “like scouts to try to find out where the next best place to go is”.
Tony then explained to all and sundry that bees are IMPORTANT, even if they do impersonate that scary scene from The Mummy sometimes.
“We need bees in London as much as we need them in the countryside,” he said.
“Bees are a keystone species.”
Reinforcement for Tony was called, and a group of local beekeepers moved the colony across the road to Westminster Cathedral using a temporary hive.
And now? The queen bee and her colony are being looked after by special church beekeepers on top of the Catholic church’s roof, where they shall remain until further notice.
Naww.
Told you the story was kind of cute. Just ask Oprah.
Top Comments
On a somewhat related note, did anyone see 'Fargo' last Thursday night? The bugs in the grocery store? Gold! Though not as good as the blood in the shower from the week before!