Bee-zarre: Huge Swarm Of Bees Hits London And Brings Traffic To A Standstill

Rush hour is no fun at all, is it? Traffic at a standstill, delays on public transport, angry people who just want to get home, and a massive swarm of bees putting the shits up everyone. Alright, so that last one might not be a regular rush hour feature, but it did happen in Greenwich last night.

Motorists and pedestrians stopped in their tracks as thousands of bees descended on Greenwich Church Street, just around the corner from Greenwich market.

Videos and photos of the bizarre bee invasion popped up on social media and you can see people ducking for cover or stopping to watch the insects.

One witness, Abigail Hering, who runs a shop nearby, Beadoir (!), said: "It was just literally swarming, above the cars around the one-way system.

Credit: PA

"When I left work, I went to walk towards my car, they were on the traffic lights. Millions of them on the traffic lights. And then at that point they'd come lower so they were actually buzzing around the people.

"And while I was videoing them I looked down and I could see literally the front of me covered in bees. They were on me. They were on everybody. They were in your hair, on your top."

via GIPHY

I'm terrified of bees. This is like a living nightmare for me. I can't believe how calm those people in the street are. Would you not be screaming a lot at this point? No? Just me.

Abigail added: "It was really quite exciting."

A local beekeeper, Phil Clarkson, and his wife, Tracey, from Bockley Bees turned up to calm the swarm.

He said the swarm might have come from Greenwich Park, but he couldn't be sure.

Credit: PA

He told the Metro: "Nobody was stung here today. People did get a bit nervous, and they were quite concerned understandably.

"But then when we talked to people and explained to them that actually a swarm is very benign, the likelihood of getting stung is very, very rare, and in most cases it's only when people swat them or squash them on their body that the bee will sting them.

"They're very calm and very docile when they're swarming. At this time of the year, swarming is quite common, but it is rare to get them to land on such things as traffic lights."

Un-bee-lieveable (sorry).

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@eboronat

Topics: bees, London

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

@ClaireReid19