Honeybees are not pests. That is the starting point for every bee call we take in Birmingham. From the large Edwardian villas of Edgbaston, Moseley and Harborne, to the mature gardens of Sutton Coldfield, to the cavity-wall housing across Yardley, Hall Green, Selly Oak and Northfield, JG Pest Control responds to bee callouts with a referral-first policy: honeybee swarms go to local Birmingham and Central England Beekeepers (BCBKA) collectors free of charge, bumblebee nests are almost always left alone to die out naturally in September, and only confirmed wasps or yellow jackets (which the public regularly mistake for bees) are exterminated. JG is open every UK bank holiday except Christmas Day, every weekend, early morning to late evening, and a settled swarm cluster needs a same-day response because the bees will move on within 24 to 48 hours.
Birmingham bee and swarm calls: 0121 655 0079
Free phone identification. Honeybee swarm collection referred free of charge to your local BCBKA collector. RSPH (BPCA) Level 2 certified and trainee technicians.
Birmingham’s bee map is shaped by the city’s unusually large green belt and the sheer scale of its mature suburban housing stock. The Edwardian villas of Edgbaston, Moseley, Harborne and Bournville have hundreds of cavity-prone chimney stacks, soffit boxes and gable-end bird boxes where established honeybee colonies occasionally set up. The garden squares around Cannon Hill Park, the mature canopy of the Lickey Hills approach, and the leafy belt running through Solihull and Sutton Coldfield generate a steady summer flow of bumblebee nests under decking, in compost heaps and behind garden sheds. And the inter-war cavity wall housing across Yardley, Hall Green, Kings Norton, Northfield, Selly Oak and the outer ring sees regular tree bumblebee activity in bird boxes and air bricks from late May through August.
The Birmingham bee season runs from late April through to September with two clear peaks. The first is the swarm peak in mid May to late June, when established honeybee colonies divide and a queen with several thousand workers takes off and clusters on a fence, hedge or low tree branch while scout bees search for a permanent home. The second is the summer bumblebee and solitary bee activity peak through July and August. This page sets out exactly how JG handles each of those calls across Birmingham, and why our default answer is referral or leave-alone rather than treatment.
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Honeybees, Bumblebees and the Species That Are Often Mistaken for Bees in Birmingham
Almost every Birmingham bee callout we take starts with a species question, often answered on the phone from a photograph. The European honeybee (Apis mellifera) is 12 to 15 mm, slim, golden-brown, lightly hairy, and lives in a permanent colony of 20,000 to 80,000 workers. A swarm in May or June is a normal sign of colony division, not a problem. Bumblebees come in around 24 UK species, most commonly the buff-tailed, white-tailed, red-tailed and tree bumblebee, and are 10 to 25 mm, very hairy, with bold yellow, white or red bands. Tree bumblebees (Bombus hypnorum, a relatively recent UK arrival) are the most common loft and bird box visitor in Birmingham and rarely need treatment. Solitary bees, particularly red mason bees and leafcutter bees, are small, non-aggressive single-female nesters that use old mortar joints and bare soil and pose no realistic stinging risk.
What the public most commonly mistakes for a bee at the back door in July is actually a common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) or a German wasp (Vespula germanica). Wasps are smaller, hairless, with a hard yellow-and-black banded body and a very narrow waist. We treat wasps. We do not treat honeybees or bumblebees as a default position.
Honeybee swarm in your Birmingham garden? Call our team on 0121 655 0079 for a free BCBKA referral, or contact us here.
What a Honeybee Swarm Looks Like in Birmingham
- A football-sized to rugby-ball-sized cluster of bees on a fence, hedge, lamp post or low branch
- Often arrives suddenly mid morning, accompanied by loud flight noise for 10 to 20 minutes, then settles quietly
- Cluster is the queen surrounded by 3,000 to 30,000 worker bees
- Bees are docile in this state because they have no nest or stored honey to defend
- Cluster usually moves on to a permanent home within 24 to 48 hours once scout bees confirm a site
Our Birmingham Bee Process, Step by Step
1. Free phone identification. Send a photo, we confirm species. In Birmingham that usually means honeybee swarm, tree bumblebee in a loft or bird box, or a misidentified wasp. 2. If honeybee swarm: free referral to the local BCBKA swarm collector covering your postcode, usually attended within hours. 3. If cavity-living honeybee colony (chimney, soffit box, cavity wall) in an Edwardian villa or inter-war semi: site assessment, relocation discussed with a beekeeper where the structure allows it, structural treatment only as a last resort and only with the homeowner in full agreement. 4. Bumblebees: almost always leave alone, colony ends naturally September, then seal the entry. 5. Confirmed wasp or yellow jacket: standard same-day wasp nest removal.
Call us now on 0121 655 0079 or contact us here to book a Birmingham bee or swarm callout.
Honeybees Saved, Wasps Removed. Call our Birmingham team on 0121 655 0079 .
When You Actually Do Need Professional Bee Removal in Birmingham
Most Birmingham bee calls do not result in treatment. There are, however, specific situations where professional removal is the right answer:
- Aggressive defence behaviour: repeated stinging incidents from a cavity-living honeybee colony, usually triggered by the colony outgrowing the cavity in its third or fourth year
- Anaphylactic occupant: a confirmed allergic family member, tenant or staff member in the building, particularly where the nest entry is near a doorway, window or fire escape
- Structural risk: a large established honeybee colony in a chimney where comb is collapsing into the flue, or in a cavity wall where comb is melting and staining interior plaster
- Failed relocation: a colony where a BCBKA beekeeper has visited, attempted a cut-out, and confirmed the colony cannot be saved
- Public access site: a nest at a school, nursery, restaurant terrace or public entrance where members of the public cannot be reliably kept away
In every case the decision is documented in writing with the property owner or managing agent before any treatment is carried out.
Bee Hot Spots across Birmingham
The Birmingham bee map is shaped by the building stock and the city’s mature garden squares. Edgbaston, Moseley, Harborne and Bournville are large Edwardian villa country with hundreds of cavity-prone chimney stacks, soffit boxes and bird boxes, and these are the postcodes where established honeybee colonies most often set up in chimneys and where swarm calls peak in mid May to late June. The leafy belt running through Sutton Coldfield, Four Oaks and Streetly produces a steady summer flow of bumblebee nests under decking, in compost heaps and behind garden sheds, and the canopy of the Lickey Hills, Sandwell Valley and Sutton Park generates occasional swarm clusters arriving on low branches at the woodland edge.
Out across the inter-war cavity-wall ring (Yardley, Hall Green, Kings Heath, Kings Norton, Northfield, Selly Oak, Quinton, Bartley Green, Erdington, Kingstanding, Great Barr, Castle Bromwich) the picture shifts to tree bumblebee colonies in air bricks, soffit corners and bird boxes from late May through August. Solihull and Knowle add a further band of large suburban gardens with regular bumblebee activity. Honeybee swarm calls in Birmingham peak across late May, the first half of June and again briefly in late August when secondary cast swarms occasionally emerge.
Areas We Cover across Birmingham for Bee Calls
Our RSPH (BPCA) Level 2 certified and trainee technicians provide bee identification, honeybee swarm referrals and (only where necessary) bee removal across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, including:
- City Centre and Digbeth
- Edgbaston
- Harborne
- Moseley
- Kings Heath
- Bournville
- Selly Oak
- Northfield
- Kings Norton
- Quinton and Bartley Green
- Hall Green
- Yardley
- Acocks Green
- Sparkhill and Sparkbrook
- Erdington
- Kingstanding
- Perry Barr and Great Barr
- Handsworth and Lozells
- Aston
- Castle Bromwich
- Hodge Hill
- Sutton Coldfield
- Four Oaks and Streetly
- Mere Green
- Solihull (border)
- Knowle (border)
- Shirley
- Hall Green border with Solihull
If your area is not listed, we still cover it. Call 0121 655 0079 for bee identification and (where needed) bee removal anywhere in Birmingham. For the city service overview see Birmingham pest control, the county picture West Midlands pest control, and species detail in our bees and hornets hub.
Frequently Asked Questions: Bee Removal and Swarm Collection in Birmingham
I have a swarm of bees in my Birmingham garden. How quickly can you help?
Same day in nearly every case. Send a photo to confirm honeybee, and we will put you in touch with your local Birmingham and Central England Beekeepers (BCBKA) swarm collector free of charge. Settled swarms are docile but tend to move on naturally within 24 to 48 hours, so we treat them as priority calls.
Do you kill bees?
Not as a default. We do not destroy honeybee swarms (these go to a local BCBKA collector free of charge), we almost never treat bumblebees (colonies die out naturally in September), and we do not treat solitary bees. We do treat common wasps and yellow jackets, which are regularly mistaken for bees in Birmingham in July and August.
Do you charge for the call out?
Phone identification and beekeeper referral are free. If a site visit is needed (cavity-living honeybee colony assessment, confirmed wasp nest treatment), the call out is quoted up front before we visit. We do not quote treatment work without seeing photographs or confirming the species first.
Are bumblebees protected in the UK?
Bumblebees are not strictly legally protected as a species in the same way that, for example, all British wild birds are protected, but they are a critical pollinator and JG will not treat a bumblebee nest without a clear welfare reason (anaphylactic occupant, nest blocking a fire escape, etc.). The default position on every Birmingham bumblebee call is to leave the colony alone and let it die out naturally in September.
How do I tell a wasp from a bee?
Wasps are smaller (around 12 mm worker), hairless, with a hard glossy yellow-and-black banded body and a very obvious narrow waist. Honeybees are similar in size but lightly hairy, golden brown rather than bright yellow, and have a more rounded body. Bumblebees are much larger, very fuzzy, and obviously bee-shaped. A clear photo on the phone is usually enough to tell.
What about a honeybee colony in my Edgbaston or Moseley chimney?
Harder. An established colony in a Victorian or Edwardian Birmingham chimney is essentially impossible to remove cleanly without significant building work and many beekeepers will decline a cut-out for that reason. We will visit, assess, and discuss the options. Where the colony genuinely cannot be relocated and is creating a significant safety, public health or structural problem, treatment is on the table as a last resort and always with the homeowner in full agreement.
Are you open at weekends and bank holidays in Birmingham?
Yes. We are open every weekend and every UK bank holiday with one honest exception: Christmas Day. The phone line is staffed early in the morning through to late in the evening. Honeybee swarms are particularly common on May and June bank holiday weekends and we handle the beekeeper referral on the same call.
Honeybee swarm or bee nest in Birmingham? Call 0121 655 0079 for free phone identification and a same-day BCBKA referral where needed.
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Most Common Pests
Other Common Pests
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