TO some it would be their worst nightmare, but for beekeeper Jim Gardner a swarm of pollen-seeking insects is a heartwarming sight.

Mr Gardner, 51, travels around Dorset helping people deal with swarms which have settled in trees, roof spaces, compost heaps and more unlikely new homes.

He has dealt with 36 swarms so far this year, in recent days located on the roundabout in Fleetsbridge, under a car bonnet in Kinson and on a bin in Canford Cliffs.

“I was going around Fleetsbridge roundabout a couple of days ago when I saw 30 odd bees in the sky,” he said.

“I told my friend to park up because something was about to happen. Within minutes the sky was black when the swarm moved in.”

Mr Gardner, born and bred in Poole, keeps bees at his home in the town and is a member of the British Beekeepers Association, and hence is is demand when such swarms menace homes and cars.

He uses a skep, a wicker beehive, to remove the bees from a location, which are then rehomed with a keeper.

“The swarm is just following the new queen. You just have to knock the queen into the basket, the other bees will go where she goes,” he said.

“Recently I went to help a couple who had bees on the bonnet of their car. I thought it would be easy, but there were bees in the pipes under the bonnet and comb hanging in there. That was difficult.”

While he has been stung a few times, Mr Gardner says he has no fear of even swarms of bees, although he has had a few more alarming encounters with the creatures.

“I am very comfortable around them, but I have had some really bad ones,” he said.

“I remember a big swarm out in Lymington, I was in a cherry picker about 30 feet up and the swarm was pinning people down in the garden. You get grumpy people and you get grumpy bees.”

The most uncomfortable place he has been stung is in his nostril, but, he says: “That is how I keep my boyish good looks.”

Ecologists have recently raised concerns about declining bee populations around the world and the potential damage that could result without their vital contribution to pollination.

“Bees are amazing things, we really need to look after them,” said Mr Gardner.