Honeybees are not pests. That is the starting point for every bee call we take across Hampshire. From the coastal cavity walls and chimney stacks of Southampton, Portsmouth, Gosport and Fareham, to the New Forest fringe at Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst, to the mature gardens of Winchester, Romsey, Alresford and Petersfield, and the chalk-stream villages of the Test and Itchen valleys, JG Pest Control responds to bee callouts with a referral-first policy: honeybee swarms go to local British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) Hampshire branch 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.
Hampshire bee and swarm calls: 01256 510012
Free phone identification. Honeybee swarm collection referred free of charge to your local BBKA Hampshire collector. RSPH (BPCA) Level 2 certified and trainee technicians.
Hampshire is the most bee-prolific county in southern England. The combination of a long warm coastline along the Solent, the New Forest’s ancient wood pasture, the chalk-stream valleys of the Test and Itchen, and the agricultural belt running up through the South Downs gives the county one of the highest densities of both managed and feral honeybee colonies in the UK. That density is why Hampshire is also the county where we take the most honeybee swarm calls per head from late May through to the end of June, and it is why every Hampshire bee callout begins with species identification before anything else is discussed. Honeybee swarms in chimneys and cavity walls are particularly common along the coastal strip from Southampton through Portsmouth and out to Hayling Island, where the older brick housing stock and the proximity to Forest and Downs feral colonies combine.
The Hampshire 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. The second is the summer bumblebee and solitary bee activity peak through July and August, with the chalk grassland of the South Downs producing some of the most diverse solitary bee populations in lowland England. This page sets out exactly how JG handles each of those calls across Hampshire, 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 Hampshire
Almost every Hampshire 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 Hampshire and rarely need treatment. Solitary bees, particularly red mason bees, leafcutter bees and (on the South Downs chalk) tawny mining 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 Hampshire garden? Call our team on 01256 510012 for a free BBKA Hampshire referral, or contact us here.
What a Honeybee Swarm Looks Like in Hampshire
- 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 Hampshire Bee Process, Step by Step
1. Free phone identification. Send a photo, we confirm species. In Hampshire that usually means honeybee swarm, honeybee colony in a coastal chimney or cavity wall, tree bumblebee in a loft or bird box, or a misidentified wasp. 2. If honeybee swarm: free referral to the local BBKA Hampshire swarm collector covering your postcode, usually attended within hours. 3. If cavity-living honeybee colony in a coastal Southampton, Portsmouth, Gosport or Hayling property, or in a New Forest cottage chimney: 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 01256 510012 or contact us here to book a Hampshire bee or swarm callout.
Honeybees Saved, Wasps Removed. Call our Hampshire team on 01256 510012 .
When You Actually Do Need Professional Bee Removal in Hampshire
Most Hampshire 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 (a frequent pattern in older coastal Southampton and Portsmouth chimneys)
- 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 (notably common on south-facing coastal walls in mid summer)
- Failed relocation: a colony where a BBKA Hampshire beekeeper has visited, attempted a cut-out, and confirmed the colony cannot be saved
- Public access site: a nest at a school, nursery, holiday let, restaurant terrace, marina 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 Hampshire
The Hampshire bee map is shaped by the long Solent coast, the New Forest, and the chalk-stream valleys. The coastal strip from Southampton through Hythe, Hamble, Warsash, Fareham, Gosport, Portchester, Portsmouth, Southsea and out to Hayling Island has thousands of older brick chimney stacks and cavity walls that established honeybee colonies regularly occupy, and the warm south-facing aspect produces the highest concentration of summer comb-collapse calls in the county. The New Forest fringe at Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Beaulieu, Burley, Sway, Lymington, Boldre and Bramshaw acts as a feral honeybee corridor, with cottage chimneys and timber-framed outbuildings periodically picking up wild swarms drifting from the forest canopy.
Inland, the Winchester, Alresford, Romsey, Stockbridge and Petersfield belt sits at the centre of the county’s managed beekeeping community, with a high density of garden apiaries and a steady seasonal swarm catch. The South Downs villages from Selborne and West Meon across to Hambledon and the Meon Valley produce some of the most diverse solitary bee populations in lowland England, with chalk-grassland mining bees concentrated on bare south-facing banks. Out across the agricultural north of the county (Basingstoke, Andover, Whitchurch, Tadley, Bishop’s Waltham) cavity-wall housing produces the regular summer flow of tree bumblebee loft and bird box calls. Honeybee swarm calls in Hampshire peak across late May, the first half of June and again briefly in late August.
Areas We Cover across Hampshire 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 Hampshire, including:
- Southampton
- Portsmouth and Southsea
- Gosport
- Fareham and Portchester
- Hayling Island
- Havant (border)
- Hythe
- Hamble and Warsash
- Eastleigh
- Romsey
- Winchester
- Alresford
- Stockbridge
- Andover
- Whitchurch
- Basingstoke
- Tadley
- Alton
- Bordon
- Petersfield
- Selborne and West Meon
- Bishop’s Waltham
- Hedge End
- Lyndhurst
- Brockenhurst
- Beaulieu
- Lymington
- Sway and Boldre
- New Milton
- Ringwood (border)
If your area is not listed, we still cover it. Call 01256 510012 for bee identification and (where needed) bee removal anywhere in Hampshire. For the county service overview see Hampshire pest control, and for species detail see our bees and hornets hub.
Frequently Asked Questions: Bee Removal and Swarm Collection in Hampshire
I have a swarm of bees in my Hampshire 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 BBKA Hampshire 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. Hampshire has one of the densest BBKA swarm collector networks in the country and the local response is typically very fast in May and June.
Do you kill bees?
Not as a default. We do not destroy honeybee swarms (these go to a local BBKA Hampshire 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 Hampshire 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.
I have a honeybee colony in the chimney of my Southsea or Hayling Island house. What are the options?
Coastal Hampshire chimney colonies are a particular challenge because the warm south-facing aspect tends to produce larger summer comb mass than inland colonies, and comb collapse into the flue is common in July and August. We will visit, assess, and discuss the options with a BBKA Hampshire beekeeper before any treatment is considered. Relocation is the goal where the structure allows it.
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 Hampshire 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.
Are you open at weekends and bank holidays in Hampshire?
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 across the Solent strip and we handle the beekeeper referral on the same call.
Honeybee swarm or bee nest in Hampshire? Call 01256 510012 for free phone identification and a same-day BBKA Hampshire referral where needed.
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