Police were called to a south London high street this afternoon after receiving reports a colony of bees had landed outside an off-licence.
A beekeeper was sent for and the street was taped off during the incident at about 3.45pm.
"Officers from Bromley attended a call in High Street Wickham," a Met spokesman confirmed. "A swarm of bees had stopped on a road sign.
"A beekeeper attended and officers closed the pavement for the duration of the incident."
Astonished witnesses took to Twitter to post photos and video of the scene.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" lang="en">Watch this video! bees swarming westwickham highstreet police on scene <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bromleyhour?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/hashtag/bromleyhour?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#bromleyhour</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Beckenham" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/Beckenham" data-vars-event-id="c23">@Beckenham</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WestWickham?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/hashtag/WestWickham?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#WestWickham</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/JIcEaSDx5g" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-http://t.co/JIcEaSDx5g" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/JIcEaSDx5g</a>— Viva La Foto (@VivafotoBromley) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/VivafotoBromley/status/590532343896608768" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/VivafotoBromley/status/590532343896608768" data-vars-event-id="c23">April 21, 2015</a>
"Swarm of bees on the high street!" wrote nearby sports shop Intersport. "The end of the world is nigh!"
"Maxy Supermarket in the High Street. Wines, beers, spirits... and bees," added @Kent_999s.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Swarm of bees in the local high street. Cheap horror movie comes to Kent!! <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/c5SawTaPW3" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-http://t.co/c5SawTaPW3" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/c5SawTaPW3</a>— SecWaza (@secwaza) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/secwaza/status/590531832225095680" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/secwaza/status/590531832225095680" data-vars-event-id="c23">April 21, 2015</a>
"I've never seen anything like it before," Maribel Knellor told the News Shopper.
"I thought there had been a raid on one of the shops."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">bees swarming westwickham highstreet police on scene <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bromleyhour?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/hashtag/bromleyhour?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#bromleyhour</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Beckenham" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/Beckenham" data-vars-event-id="c23">@Beckenham</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BeckBromFL" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/BeckBromFL" data-vars-event-id="c23">@BeckBromFL</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WestWickham?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/hashtag/WestWickham?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#WestWickham</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/photooftheday?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/hashtag/photooftheday?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#photooftheday</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/E6UomiFoPS" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-http://t.co/E6UomiFoPS" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/E6UomiFoPS</a>— Viva La Foto (@VivafotoBromley) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/VivafotoBromley/status/590531071172804608" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-61811-https://twitter.com/VivafotoBromley/status/590531071172804608" data-vars-event-id="c23">April 21, 2015</a>
Swarming is part of bees' reproductive cycle. During spring, a queen bee leaves her colony along with a group of workers to find a suitable place for a new nest, leaving other, newly hatched queens behind.
