A huge swarm of bees took up residence on an Auckland car on Thursday.
The bees were discovered swarming the right side of a vehicle on Sentinel Rd in the inner city suburb of Herne Bay, Stuff reports.
The vehicle's owner, Simon Hebrides, said the car hadn't been used for eight months, and he came home from work to find that the bees had found "a nice little home".
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Brett Archer, a second-generation beekeeper, was called by a friend to help the bees find a new home. Using a brush, he swept the bees into a box, Stuff reports.
"In half an hour's time, they'll be in a new hive and a new home," Mr Archer said.
Bee swarms are a natural part of reproducing colonies, according to beeswarm.co.nz. It happens when the bees and their Queen are looking for a new home.
The website advises people to not get too close to bee swarms, but says bees are "normally quite calm in this state".
When bee swarms are reported, they are often rehoused into hives. The bees are then treated for any varroa mite (an external parasitic) and then fed pollen and nectar.
"This gives them the best chance of survival," says beeswarm.co.nz.
Bee populations around the world have been declining since the 1990s, according to Greenpeace.
The main reasons for the decline are understood to be industrial agriculture, parasites/pathogens and climate change.
Newshub.
