A BEEKEEPER has spoken of his anger after a swarm he

rescued was attacked by vandals.

Carston Svensgaard, was called to retrieve the bees after they attached themselves to a car outside an Addingham pub - and could not be shaken off.

The bees had swarmed onto the boot of the car and were not for moving after the queen bee took a liking to it.

Mr Svensgaard, swarm officer for Wharfedale Beekeepers, dashed to the rescue and took the bees off to safety.

He said: "When they had settled down, in Addingham, I picked them up and moved them to Ben Rhydding.

"We rent a plot of Ben Rhydding allotments, which are not otherwise being used, to put swarms until we know where they are going."

The bees were just getting used to their new home when the vandals struck.

Mr Svensgaard said: "Everything was going all right. Then someone interfered with the hive and took the lid off.

"There were two other hives there as well and likewise the lids had been taken off."

The beekeeper says that the swarm will almost certainly have died.

He said: "They just disappeared. It is almost impossible for a swarm to find suitable accommodation in this climate. It is such a nuisance."

Mr Svensgaard said that more hives in the Wharfedale area have also been attacked.

He said: "It is not usually such a problem but it has happened to me three times in one year and at three different locations.

"I had a full hive on some

allotments at High Royds, in Menston, which was interfered with. They survived but they did not produce much honey.

"The lid was also removed on a hive of mine in Esholt."

Mr Svensgaard believes the attacks could have been carried out by inquisitive youngsters eager to disturb the bees.

He said: "I think it must be inquisitive youngsters who do not know what they are doing.

"It is somebody who has thought, 'what is happening in the hive?'.

"If they take the lid off and the bees start coming out they will run away and that is when the bees will die."

Mr Svensgaard said he hoped parents would warn their

children of the dangers of

playing with hives for all

concerned.

l Geoff Halsall's monthly bee-keeping column is on P13.