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20,000 Bees Refused To Leave This Woman's Car, Followed It For Miles To Her House

May 26, 2016

There's been a lot of buzz about a Mitsubishi Outlander in Haverfordwest, Wales.

Wales News

National Park ranger Tom Moses was passing by when he spotted a bizarre "brown splodge" on the car parked outside of a pub. The splodge turned out to be about 20,000 bees covering the rear of the vehicle.

“It was spectacular," said Moses. "I was driving through when I spotted the big brown splodge. A lot of people were really amazed by it, cars were slowing down and people were taking pictures of it."

Wales News

Moses contacted the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers' Association and two came out to round up the swarm.

The beekeepers used a cardboard box and carefully brushed them into it as quickly as possible.

Wales News

"I got about 15 or 20 stings for my trouble," beekeeper Roger Burns told Wales News.

One theory for the bizarre situation was that the queen was trapped in the car and the swarm was following her. But they never found the queen.

Wales News

When the owner of the car, Carol Howarth, returned, hundreds of remaining bees followed her the entire two-mile drive home.

"It was incredible really," Howarth said. "I've never seen anything like it - it just goes to show the power of nature."

Howarth had to call the beekeepers to her home to box up the rest.

"I have been beekeeping for 30 years and I have never seen a swarm do that," Burns said. "It is natural for them to follow the queen but it is a strange thing to see and quite surprising to have a car followed for two days. It was quite amusing."