MORE BEES - and HEROES by Bobby Irvine

Here is another slant on bee invasions that came to mind after reading Gary Nolan's vivid account of the Janefield Street Invasion.

In 1972-73 I was living in Argyllshire on the shores of Loch Eck about 10 miles from Dunoon. I was riding on the local bus going into Dunoon on a lovely sunny morning when the bus stopped to pick up a woman and her two young daughters.

After the mother and girls had settled in their seats, a large Queen Bee, which had apparently followed them on to the bus, settled (almost unseen) on the shoulder of the older of the two girls. Swiftly, and without warning, an enormous gang of bees entered the bus and headed straight for their leader, all landing on the shoulders of this poor lass. All of this took place so quickly that not more than ten or fifteen seconds could have passed.

The passengers were all stunned and there was dead silence for a few moments. Then a confident voice from the rear of the bus was heard to declare firmly, "Don't move hen!" The wee girl was so terrifed that she just froze.

The owner of the confident voice was found to be an older fella about 65 or so.
He calmly walked towards the front seats where the unfortunate wee girl was seated. Then, cool as a cucumber, he placed his hand right into the middle of the swarm, extracted the Queen, and continued smoothly towards the bus door. He quietly instructed the shaken driver to open the door. Then stepping down off the bus, he walked a few paces and placed the Queen gently on the branch of a nearby bush at the roadside.

Almost immediately the whole bee colony registered the fact that their Queen had moved from their midst and as the passengers held their breaths, the bees took flight from the girl's shoulders and headed outside. They rejoined their Queen and settled majestically around her on the bush. Almost the instant the danger was past, the wee girl crumbled and started to scream from the tension and fear she'd just come through. Her mother and nearby passengers moved quickly to soothe and reassure the lass.

The point of this account is simply this: How many people would have known exactly what to do in that situation?
Certainly not me! I could hardly believe what I had just seen first-hand. It was truly an amazing event. I don't think I have ever admired anyone as much as I did that old fella who took courage for granted and thus prevented a very nasty and serious situation from developing on that otherwise beautiful sunny morning.

I have been blessed to have witnessed many amazing things in nature during my life but the actions of that old fella who stepped up to deal with the Bee Invasion that day has to be right up there as one of the most heroic things I have ever witnessed.

By BOBBY IRVINE, May 12th 2007.
(bobbythescot@yahoo.com)

P.S. By the way - Whit's up? Is every body too busy?
This blog has been too quiet of late - get yer comments oan here and shake things up so we can all enjoy them.