With tens of thousands of passengers passing through our bustling terminal each day, summer time at Edinburgh Airport can quite accurately be described as a hive of activity.
Anyone who's been in recently will know that there's a real buzz around the place - particularly when holiday season hits.
And while we do love welcoming visitors to our airport, whether they're off on their travels or setting foot in Scotland, we did have some guests arrive with a sting in their tail earlier this month - and we called on expert assistance to deal with them.
That's right, this swarm of honey bees set up camp in one of our car parks.
Our teams were made aware of the swarm after they were spotted on a grit bin in one of our block parking areas.
Before the bees set up camp somewhere more problematic, and to restore access to the grit bin (because you never know when temperatures might dip...), swift action was taken to safely relocate the swarm.
While we have many experts operating different fields at the airport, from analysts to engineers, beekeeping isn't a discipline we have covered. For that we needed to draft in a professional keeper.
Stephen Readman, President of the Edinburgh and Midlothian Beekeepers' Association, was more than happy to help after being contacted by the airport's property team, and he winged his way across to the airport to sort the issue out.
Stephen safely moved all bees into a special box he'd arrived with before relocating the swarm to a new, more suitable location on campus.
The bees will need to remain here for several weeks before an inspection to confirm they’re disease free. Only then will they be moved away from busy airport car parks and into one of Stephen’s apiaries near Blackford in Edinburgh.
As for where the bees arrived from, we'll never know as there were no travel documents with them.
However rest assured we'll be keeping a close eye as they depart the airport to continue their onward journey, so stay tuned!
Find out more about the Edinburgh and Midlothian Beekeepers' Association here.
