A swarm of bees descended on Limerick city centre on Tuesday afternoon causing “panic” on the streets, according to local traders.
The swarm was captured on video by cafe manager Angelina Brodziak at around 5pm on Tuesday.
“There was a lot of panic, people were waving the bees away around their heads, it was kind of crazy,” said Ms Brodziak, manager of Aroma Cafe and Wildberry Cafe.
Ms Brodziak, whose father, as it turns out, is a beekeeper in their native Poland, said she understood the bees were following their queen after they had left their nest.
“This time of year they can be moving from nest to nest. A new queen may have taken over their nest and these ones may have been looking to nest somewhere new.
“I looked out the window of the cafe and there were lots and lots of bees on the street outside. There were definitely hundreds of them, perhaps thousands. They filled the whole street for about five meters. It was full of bees.
After the swarm positioned itself on a nearby flower box outside the Wildberry, at the junction of Catherine Street and Roches Street, Ms Brodziak filmed them on her mobile phone.
“It was very unusual. Some people were running away and others were standing across the street looking on.”
It is understood two local beekeepers arrived soon afterwards to retrieve the bees which are becoming an endangered species across Europe.
“It looked like they were trying to find the queen. All the bees were following her. There were two guys with beekeeping clothes on and they removed a good lot of them,” Ms Brodziak explained.
“The queen was sitting on the flower pot and the rest of the swarm followed her there. Apparently they can travel about 15 kilometres from their nest and still able to find their way back.”
Ms Brodziak said people should not be frightened if they come across a beehive, and they should alert a professional to deal with them. “If you don’t disturb them they shouldn’t hurt you,” she added.