TAVISTOCK was all abuzz on Sunday afternoon when thousands of bees were spotted in a bush in the grounds of St Eustachius' Church.

A colony of around 20,000 bees had made a home for themselves in a bush in the corner of the church yard opposite Lloyds TSB.

Resident Carol Scott said: 'My friend Michelle rang me to tell me about the bees and I thought it would be a good photo opportunity so I went down.

'It was a shame because kids kept squirting water at them, so I went home and rang the Tavistock Beekeepers who came to take them away.

'They were there for a good two hours trying to rescue them, a Tavistock College student Tom Taylor filmed the whole thing — it was incredible to see, I'm so glad they were saved.'

Gillian Urro from the Tavistock Beekeepers, who helped rescue the bees, said: 'We went to the site and tried to put them into a NUC box (a smaller version of a normal beehive).

'We ensured the queen was in the box and waited for all the other bees to follow. Once about 99 per cent of the bees were in the box, we took them to a big hive at my son's house.'

This is the second time in as many weeks that a large number of bees have been found in the town. A swarm of bees was removed from a litter bin in Brook Street last Saturday week by the Devon Beekeepers' Association.

The area was cordoned off by police.

Gillian said: 'The hot weather will bring them in. There has been a lull with the cold and now the weather is heating up again the bees are moving around more.

'I think more people in Tavistock are keeping bees in Tavistock now as well, so that's probably why we are seeing more of them.'