A colony of bees will soon be rehomed at Ventnor Botanical Gardens after Southern Water discovered more than 50,000 of the insects at one of its wastewater treatment works.

It’s been a hive of activity at the Southern Water site, in Sandown, where honeybees are being carefully relocated to more suitable surroundings.

The Southern Water team called for help after discovering a huge hive inside the wall of a building onsite and beekeeper Mark Gale, of Bee Tree Rescue in Surrey, answered.

 He travelled 100km to take on the job over the course three days.

“This was an unusual task,” said Mark.

“We had to cut out the honeycombs and transfer them to an alternative hive to rehome them on the Island.

“The honeybees soon regrow and re-glue their nest together.

“When the Queen bee starts laying eggs that is the sign that their new home was successfully repaired and breeding new honeybees is back on track.”

The honeybees are currently in a holding centre at a Tree Bee Rescue Apiary but are going to be relocated later this month to Ventnor Botanical Gardens, which has agreed to take them on so they can live out their time on the Island. 

Chris Weeks, operational manager at Southern Water said: “The operational teams on site spotted the bees flying into a small hole in the side of the storeroom wall.

“Eventually the numbers increased into a motorway of bees flying in and out of their new nest, and the buzzing got a lot louder as the days and weeks went on. 

"After a section of the wall was removed by local contractors, Mark found the queen bee and transferred her into the temporary hive, along with the honeycombs.

“It was great work by everyone involved in the safe removal of the bees.”