An operation was put in place to move a huge swarm of bees residing atop a town centre bin.

The extraordinary sight was captured by Twitter user @gilmaragarcia at the bottom of Gabriel's Hill in the heart of Maidstone, yesterday afternoon.

A police cordon was placed around the bees. It is understood Maidstone Borough Council was aware of the swarm, and it is believed to have been placed on the bin by a pest control company while waiting for collection by beekeepers.

William Lay, an amateur beekeper is one of those involved in the operation to move the bees. He said they intended to move them to the top of Fremlin walk, as they had done with a separate swarm yesterday.

They started the operation at around 6pm and it is understood it could last for hours.

Mr Lay said: "I have been at work all so I haven't been able to come down and pick them up but we are just going to pick them up and put them on Fremlin Walk as well.

He explained that the swarm may be down to the heat.

"It's just the time of the year, they're hot and bothered, their filling up their hives and all of that so their natural response to getting too hot and numerous is to just swarm," he said.

Explaining the operation, he said: "In this state they are very docile, so it doesn't actually take much, it's just trying to get them together into one swarm.

"Someone has already put a lure in their earlier on in the day so we are just going to try and tip all of that into the box."

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