A SWARM of bees had people ducking into shops for cover when they buzzed into Marlborough High Street on Friday.

The swarm clustered between Nationwide and Lloyds Bank, and one shopper said it landed on a car, almost covering it.

Speaking at the time Claire Hazel, manager of Pia Jewellery, said: “There’s a big swarm all over the cars in the middle of the street. Everyone’s trying to get away from it.

“It’s very peculiar.”

The swarm hovered around the eastern end of the High Street and gathered around the beams of the Lloyd's bank building.

A spokesman for Lloyds explained that there was a hive in the building but staff were not aware of a swarm and nobody went into the bank for shelter.

Rachael King, director of Specsavers Marlborough, said: “ The bees were mainly down by the bank but staff here didn’t want to go outside and stayed in the shop until the swarm had gone.”

The bee population has been affected by the cold and wet weather and the pavement near to where the insects congregated was covered with dead bees.

Shopper Emily Bollard said: "I come shopping in Marlborough around this time of day every day and I've never seen a swarm off bees making their way down the High Street before.

"Nobody seemed particularly worried but it did add a bit of colour to the afternoon."

Some shop owners also reported seeing the swarm again on Monday.

Lesley Conway, a shop assistant at Mayther, said: “I didn’t see the swarm on Friday but there were bees here on Monday.

“A huge swarm with thousands of bees was here about 3.30pm, but people didn’t seem bothered by it and just carried on with their day.”

The British Bee Keeping Association explains that swarming is the natural to the way that a colony of honey bees reproduces and it happens when a new Queen has been formed and is almost ready to emerge from her cell.

Fred Swift, known as The Wiltshire Bee Keeper, said people shouldn’t worry about bees swarming which is a common occurrence between April and June.

Mr Swift, of Devizes, who has been a beekeeper for more than 20 years, said: “It is the time of year for swarming, which happens when hives are over populated.

“The current queen will select a new queen and then move half the hive to a new location.

“There is no need to worry as it is a natural behaviour.”