Swarm pic - any comments?

[Loubylou]

most definitely is rowan tree

 

[Les]

Looks like good old mountain ash/rowan to me, though in that location could well be one of the more ornamental cultivars.

It's a Mountain Ash - been there 25 years.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well, now we have the answer.
What about the bees?

 

[galileo]

Just back from a fortnight's holiday Les?

 

[Foxylad]

Just back from a fortnight's holiday Les?

And did you finish that book on swarming methods??

 

[Les]

Well here goes.
This was from a cast collected late June last year. It started off in a 12x14 P*ynes nuc and quarantined in my back garden. It built up and I put it in a dummied down full size box in the middle of September and went into the winter with 8 frames and dummy board.
I inspected them on 13th April and added 3 more undrawn frames.
On 29th April I was going to have a final inspection before moving them to my apiary and I was suited up and ready to open up when they started swarming.
They collected in said Mountain Ash in four ‘clumps’. I put one each of the two bigger ‘clumps’ in a box each along with a smaller ‘clump’ and watched as the bees in one of the boxes went into the other box (P*ynes 12x14) and some went back into the original hive.
So the four ‘clumps’ of bees in the pic were one prime swarm – I have seen a few swarms but never seen them collect in separate ‘clumps’, I would have thought that they would have joined in one bigger ‘clump’ if I had left them before adding them to a box.
I had a look at the original hive and they had drawn out and filled with stores the extra frames I added two weeks earlier, built a few queen cells and decided it was time for a move.
So that’s the story one prime swarm in four groups in the tree.

 

[alldigging]

Swarm here n Saturday landed in three lumps but fairly soon went into just one.
Was a bit rainy when they landed and they sat low in the privets.