NOVICE beekeepers could be responsible for an increased numbers of swarming bees being spotted in towns and cities.

With more people than ever keeping bees in their back gardens in urban areas experts are urging amateur honey farmers to keep tabs on their hives.

Earlier this week thousands of bees swarmed through Chichester as police taped off a section of the town while professionals dealt with the swarm.

Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture at the University of Sussex, told a national newspaper experienced beekeepers know to give hives more space to prevent swarming but rookies might not know to do this.

He said: “If people are keeping bees in urban areas it could cause more swarms. Beekeepers try to prevent their hives swarming, and if they aren't looking after their hives properly that could cause swarms.

“I think a lot of novice beekeepers might not understand how to reduce it.

“Keeping honey bees is not as easy as people think. If you had a colony in a box in your garden it would swarm every year.”

Swarming is a natural process which takes place during the spring months and is sometimes caused when new queen bees are born in a colony.

Some of the hive will then leave with the original queen and may settle on trees and cars as they search for a new home.

Councillor Robert Nemeth, an avid beekeeper from Hove, said this week he has had to collect two swarms of bees over just three days.

He said: “Lots of new beekeepers buy their bees off the shelf, sometimes even by mail order, rather than by collecting them as a swarm.

“In not experiencing a swarm, which is a baptism of fire, a new beekeeper finds it hard to know what to do when their own bees inevitably get mischievous.”

Elsewhere in the country there have been a number of other towns hit by swarms this week with reports of thousands of the buzzing insects also descending upon Salisbury, Marlborough, Maidstone and Farnham.

Factfile

BEE swarms occur when new queens are born in the hive so the old queen leaves taking some of the workers with her.

The bees may settle near to human populations but experts say you should not panic when confronted with a swarm.

The bees stuff themselves with honey before they leave and honeybees are a naturally docile species.

If you spot a swarm you should contact your local beekeepers association. If you are stung you should apply antihistamine cream.