It's spring and insects abound; the air is laced with bees busily visiting spring flowers and squatting in convents.

Yes, their habitual residence are beehives but sometimes a queen gets a bit frisky and flies off dragging a swarm of worker bees with her in search of a new home.

For beekeepers, it’s a busy time because of this, as they are often being called out by the local police to remove a swarm from a public space or private residence.

In this case, one rival queen decided that a convent in Granada was just the ticket, so it was time to call in an association called La Colmena Sanadora, which specialises in relocating bee squatters.

The nuns made a short video of the bees, which had made a nest inside a wall next to a window. But, as one of the bee specialists from the association explained, this was a nest that had been there between four to five years!

The sneaky bees had set up home in a room for guests that had not been used since before the pandemic, hence it not being discovered until now. The convent also has its own gardens with plenty of flowers so this change of residence was a ‘wise move’ for the bee colony.

The association exists to save bees from being killed off with insecticide, finding them an alternative location. In this case, the number of beees was between 150,000 and 180,000 individuals, so they could fill at least a couple of standard hives.

In fact, there were so many that the task of transferring them would take two to three days, whereas they are normally called upon to remove small swarms from parks and gardens, etc and it would only take a day at the most.

If you do suddenly find yourself being a host to thousands of bees, you can phone La Colmena Sanadora on 658 270 707.

(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)