A swarm of bees caused havoc in east Sheen this morning.
The buzzing crowd alighted on the front of a restaurant on the corner of Sheen Lane and St Leonard's Road.
Bori Kiss, a social media consultant, was out for a coffee when she spotted the swarm, which had landed on Isola Del Sol restaurant.
She said: "I tweeted the council and the beekeepers arrived surprisingly quickly.
"They used some sort of smoke which makes the bees less likely to sting.
"I am scared of wasps but not bees; if it was a swarm of wasps I might have run off screaming but bees are fine.
"I'm happy they were dealt with safely and hopefully someone will be enjoying the honey soon."
Richmond Council tweeted about the episode to say a beekeeper was on its way to deal with the situation and two arrived shortly after to collect the insects.
We are aware of a Bee problem in East Sheen, the local bee-keeping assoc has been contacted and we hope to have it sorted ASAP!
— Richmond Council (@LBRUT) 3 May 2016
A spokesman from Richmond Council said: "Our customer services team was alerted to the problem of bees in East Sheen High street and we contacted the Bee Keeping Association immediately.
"Within an hour of the matter being reported experts were on hand and the bees were safely removed and returned to their natural habitat.”
A swarm occurs when a colony decides to raise a new queen, and they will normally hang in a tree while some bees fly off to scout for a permanent home, according to Twickenham and Thames Valley’s swarm coordinator, Warwick Francis.
FROM JUNE 2015 - Rogue swarm gives family a fright: thankfully a beekeeper was nearby
The scout bees return to the swarm when they have found somewhere suitable and if the bees agree they fly off with the queen to their new home.
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