THE draw of collecting their nectar points was too strong for one swarm of bees as thousands had to be rescued from a Sainsbury's superstore.

The bees, estimated to be between 10,000 to 12,000 in number, had swarmed to protect their queen after landing on the trolleys in the Sainsbury's Pioneer Square car park on June 1.

Hobby beekeeper Stuart Bass-Twitchell was called in on a rescue mission whilst Sainsbury's had to close off a section of the car park to customers.

Brackley-based beekeeper Mr Bass-Twitchell said: "This one was a fairly big swarm with, I would estimate, about 10,000 to 12,000 bees.

"Essentially the bees had clumped together on the shopping trolley and typically would've been protecting their queen in the centre of the clump.

"So as a beekeeper we would try to get the queen into the collection box and once she's in the others would follow."

Mr Bass-Twitchell said he arrived to find the swarm at the Bicester Sainsbury's multi-storey carpark at about 7.30pm.

After rescuing the queen the then waited until 10pm to ensure all the other bees had followed her into the collection box.

He added: "Collections typically tend to be a swarm hanging off trees or branches, I must admit it was my first time collecting a swarm from a shopping trolley.

"I was quite enthusiastic about going to this one as it was a challenge.

"I used lemon grass essence to coat the inside of the collection box to attract the swarm and then scooped up bees to try and get the queen in which took about 40 minutes.

"Then I waited for it to get dark and for the bees to settle back to where the hive was."

The swarm was taken back to Mr Bass-Twicthell's home, where he has two apiaries and the bees are now being monitored before they can be relocated at a local farm.

Mr Bass-Twitchell said recent the mild weather has seen a rise in the number of rescue missions he has been called to, with roughly 15 collections made last week.

Sainsbury’s spokeswoman Shannon Leahy said: “Customer safety is our top priority and we can confirm that the area in the car park was open as usual the next morning.”