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Less than a week later and there's another swarm! Great! This one's a little further away from home but in a stunning setting near the coast. The swarm is in a very old, thick beech hedge about 5 feet off the ground. And it's huge! The biggest I've ever seen!

I start by pushing the skep as far as I can into the hedge under the swarm and shaking the bees off the branches. It's difficult because the hedge is so thick. After a while I upturn the skep on the swarm bag and collect the sugar syrup bucket from the car. It's smaller than the skep so might be easier to manoeuvre in the hedge.

I carry on shaking the bees into the bucket before dropping them near the upturned skep.

 The bees aren't too impressed and become pretty bad tempered. They discover a weak point in my gloves on the wrists and I'm repeatedly stung. After a while I take a break. Then I find another pair of gloves in the car so I put these on to for some extra protection.

 I manage to get about 80% of the swarm in the skep and call it a day. There's still one more clump but they're deep inside the hedge and I just can't get to them. Just hope I haven't left the queen behind.

 After a very welcome cup of coffee and a chat with the householders I take the skep to the apiary and drop them into a hive. It was a long and tiring session but I wouldn't have missed it.