A 15-YEAR-old captured these impressive images of a beekeeper capturing a swarm in a Hereford garden.

Cameron Mitchell-Hill took the photos after the bees swarmed into his parents' garden in Whitecross Road on Saturday.

The bees, estimated to be around 4,000 in total, settled on a washing line post in a neighbour’s garden.

Cameron, who goes to Whitecross High School, said: "It resembled a giant ice-cream lolly- only made of a mass of bees.

"They seemed quite content in the sunshine and I was able to carefully creep up on them and take some photographs."

His mum, Jo, called the Herefordshire Beekeepers Association and beekeeper, Dick Hailwood, arrived within an hour.

He had already been dealing with another swarm just half a mile down the road.

The swarming season is from April to July, but the peak is from early May to mid June.

Cameron said: "Armed with protective clothing, a wall paper paste brush and a device to smoke them he went to work.

"Mr Hailwood climbed the stepladder and carefully brushed them into a box which he placed on a sheet on the lawn.

"At this stage he was uncertain whether he had transferred the Queen. Apparently she releases pheromones and the workers will always follow her."

He left them for an hour and the bees were still there, which suggested the Queen was still among them.

Cameron's dad, Duncan, spotted the Queen and Mr Hailwood was then able to put her in the box on the lawn.

Within half an hour nearly all the bees had followed her and they were taken to a new home – a hive out at Holme Lacy.

Honeybees swarm to find a new home when they have run out of space in their previous hive.

Swarms are not dangerous unless disturbed or aggravated. Because they only rarely survive in the wild, honeybee swarms need to be captured by trained personnel/beekeepers and placed in beehives.

Cameron added: "Mr Hailwood kindly emailed us the following day to inform us they were settling in and would drop off a pot of honey as a thank you.

"I have never witnessed such an event and now know a bit about the complex world of honey bees."