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One of the UK’s leading beekeepers has warned that soaring temperatures in the coming days could lead to a massive increase in swarming bees across the country.
Laurence Edwards, 39, who grew up in Eltham, south London, runs Black Mountain Honey, the UK’s fastest-growing bee supplier.
Based in North Wales, his company now raises over 10 million bees a year and supplies hives to novice beekeepers across the UK. Since founding the business in 2020, Edwards has built a large following online, with more than 200,000 social media followers and over 200 million views on his bee-related videos.
One of his clips, showing a swarm of bees in action, recently went viral on Facebook.
Speaking this week, Edwards said the recent hot spell has already triggered an explosion in swarming activity among beekeepers, and the heatwave expected over the next few days could push swarming numbers even higher.
“What the public will see is a ‘cloud’ of up to 50,000 bees,” he said. “The sky turns black. The sound is deafening, the movement is fast. It looks like danger. But the truth is, swarming bees are generally not aggressive. They have no home to defend, no reason to sting. They’ve gorged on honey and they’re at their calmest.”
He explained that swarming is a natural part of honeybee reproduction. “It’s how they reproduce on a colony level. When a hive becomes overcrowded, the old queen leaves with thousands of workers to find a new home. It’s not chaos, it’s one of the most extraordinary natural behaviours on the planet.”
While beekeepers usually manage colonies to prevent swarming, extreme heat can overwhelm hives with an influx of nectar.
“Heatwaves can trigger a ‘nectar tsunami’ that saturates the inside of the beehive with this sweet, sugary solution,” Edwards said. “This is generally good for bees, but if the beekeeper hasn’t provided enough space for this bounty of nectar, it can trigger rapid swarming events, even in urban areas.”
Despite the dramatic scenes swarms can create, Edwards emphasised that people should remain calm and avoid disturbing the bees.
