A SWARM of hundreds of honeybees caused alarm as it descended on a Winchester primary school.

Some 500 bees settled on a tree at South Wonston Primary School on Monday at about 3pm.

Administration officer Ann Lampard said no-one was stung during the swarm and most children were in lessons.

Teachers called in beekeeper Avril Burt, 76, who lives in Downs Road, South Wonston.

With the help of the school caretaker, she climbed a ladder and shook a branch to get the bees into a box.

Mrs Burt took the swarm home and put them in a small hive to join two larger hives in her back garden.

A beekeeper for 26 years, Mrs Burt is known in the village as “the honey lady”.

She sells her pots of Dever Down honey to people who knock at her door and the village shop.

Mrs Burt said: “It was a small swarm of only about 500 bees with a new queen.

“When they are swarming, bees don’t really sting people because they are carrying a lot of honey and the aim is to find a home rather than keep people away.

“They settled on a tree while the scout bees went looking for a new home.”

Mrs Lampard said: “Our music teacher was giving a violin lesson when he noticed a swarm of bees around one of our trees.

“I phoned Avril and she said she would be here in five minutes. She turned up in all her beekeeper gear. She is going to find a good home for them. It was a good branchful of bees.”