Spring is here - the canola fields are blooming, the magpies are swooping, and it’s not only bush-walkers getting out and about.
On Monday, September 23, Moira Shire Council closed Frank Keenan Reserve after a bee swarm was found attached to a nearby tree.
Council has now confirmed the bees have moved on.
Strathmerton man and hobby bee-keeper Andrew Shemmeld first noticed a hive of his bees swarming around noon on Tuesday, September 24.
Soon the swarm alighted on his mailbox.
Over the past couple of days, Mr Shemmeld had noticed his two hives beginning to swarm.
“I think it’s the temperature that’s brought them on,” Mr Shemmeld said.
La Trobe University Professor of Agriculture Biochemistry Travis Beddoe said the swarming is typical behaviour of bee colonies during this time of year.
“Swarming is a natural response of how bees divide and expand if they were living in the wild,” Professor Beddoe said.
“The colonies expand and get to a certain point of congestion.
“This triggers a response that causes them to swarm out.”
Professor Beddoe said fewer swarming events were observed last year because of weather and climatic change.
But this year is another story.
“This year in winter we had that burst of warm weather,” he said.
Because of this, “the bees might have got a head start” this spring.
Professor Beddoe said swarming behaviour is a part of a bee’s genetics.
“That’s always going to be linked to various factors [determining a colony’s decision] to swarm or not,” he said.
Later that evening at Mr Shemmeld’s property, another local keeper arrived to collect the swarm after gathering the bees in a box.
Mr Shemmeld said the bees are at their least harmful when swarming.
“If you see a swarm like that, they’re really docile because all they care about is looking after their queen,” he said.
“They’re not going to go after you.”