A COUNCILLOR has been keeping busy this week rescuing swarms of bees.

In Wednesday’s Argus, we reported Councillor Robert Nemeth had been given a buzz about a large swarm of bees which had taken up residence on the front of a car in Grange Road, Hove.

Aside from his duties as the Wish ward city councillor, he is a professional beekeeper and was able to coax the honey-makers off the bonnet of a Citroen C1 and into his special bee box.

Later, Cllr Nemeth was called into action again when a swarm collected on a couple of huge watermelons outside Four Seasons grocery store in Church Road, Hove.

Posting on Facebook, Jullian Preston-Powers, a friend of Cllr Nemeth, wrote: “We went collecting bees that had swarmed around watermelons with Robert in Church Road.

“Rewarding work for him knowing that bees are the keystone to the survival of all life in nature.”

The pictures show a beaming Cllr Nemeth having successfully rescued this latest swarm, who have now been rehomed, along with the Grange Road bees, in hives at The Ginger Fox near Henfield.

Mr Preston-Powers was encouraged by one of his five children to take him to watch the bee rescue take place in Church Road.

He said: “My 11-year-old son Ethan is a bee fanatic.

“He couldn’t wait to get down there, he was fizzing with excitement.

“We’ve been out with Robert before, driving around, visiting his different hives,

“Ethan is fascinated by it all, I don’t know where it has come from.”

Ethan was keen to get to the bees as quickly as possible so that he could “guard them” until Cllr Nemeth arrived to collect them.

“We got there at about 8.30pm and the swarm had drawn quite a crowd, with people stopping to take pictures and film on their phones.

“It was incredible to watch them being removed as they had formed a column, through a metal grate, between the two watermelons.

“Robert was literally scooping them up in handfuls.”

It is quite common for bees to swarm at this time of the year as temperatures start to rise.

The swarms are on a journey to find a new home for their short lives, as summer bees only live for up to six weeks.