Worcester residents plagued by ‘a million bees’ in their road

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Worcester residents plagued by ‘a million bees’ in their road

Tom Edwards

BBC Hereford & Worcester

Tanya Gupta

BBC News, West Midlands

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BBC

Councillor Sarah Murray claims there are 21 unmanaged hives in a back garden

Residents are being plagued by huge swarms of up to a million bees in their street that have stung “on numerous occasions” and left them fearful of opening a window.

The homeowners in Corfe Avenue in the Warndon Villages area in Worcester said their lives were being made a “misery” by the bees. Tradespeople were also staying away over fears of being stung.

The problem has been traced to one property with several apartments rented to tenants. City councillor Sarah Murray claimed there were 21 hives in the back garden, but a BBC reporter, who visited the property, was not able to verify how many were there.

The owner of the property has so far not responded to a request for comment.

Worcester City Council said it was investigating and could not comment further.

Murray claimed the beehives in the residential area were unmanaged and estimated they could contain up to one million bees.

The Worcester bees causing havoc

She said: “This has gone well beyond a private matter. We have families, pets, and workers being stung; residents unable to open their windows, and basic home maintenance being disrupted.”

She also raised concerns over the environmental impact because honeybees in excessive numbers could outcompete bumblebees, solitary bees and butterflies.

‘No issue with pollinators’

Pensioner Daphne Wood said she liked to keep her back door open when cooking, but bees came into the kitchen.

She said she was not a sun worshipper but would like to sit in her garden but was unable to now.

“As soon as you go out there, there are bees,” she said, and added that she had been left exhausted after working in her tool shed and then not being able to sit outside afterwards.

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People have been ‘stung on numerous occasions’

Another woman, who gave her name as Julie, said she had kept videos and a photodiary of the swarms “for the last couple of years”, adding: “More and more swarms have been happening, so last year I actually took five videos of swarms in my back garden.

“I’ve been stung on numerous occasions,” she said, “just being in my back garden, collecting washing and gardening.”

‘We can’t stay here’

“We have no issues with pollinators,” Julie said, “but it seems to have got excessive”.

One of her neighbours had paid more than £1,000 to have bees removed from her chimney and a cap placed on it.

Meanwhile, tradespeople had been unable to carry out work, with one contractor stung three times.

Julie said: “Both window cleaners were stung, and then they just left and said, ‘We’ll have to come back another day; we can’t stay here; there are too many bees’.”

Worcester City Council said in a statement: “Worcestershire regulatory services are investigating the complaints on behalf of the council.

“It is not appropriate to comment further at this time.”

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More and more bees have appeared over several years, but now it is “excessive”, says a resident

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