Terrified residents fled for safety as a massive swarm of bees descended on their quiet Inverness street “like a whirlwind”.
Children had to wrap towels over their heads as they raced inside to escape the tens of thousands of stinging insects buzzing around their homes.
Locals dialled 999 after 30,000 honey bees converged on the Duke’s View cul-de-sac in the Slackbuie area of the city.
The creatures eventually clustered several inches thick on a For Sale sign in one garden as locals huddled indoors.
Police summoned expert handlers from Inverness-shire Bee Keepers Association to deal with the incident.
The swarm was so big that the volunteers had to make three separate trips to remove the insects – and return the following day to scoop up the remnants which were still causing concern.
A number of bees were still buzzing around yesterday as Leanne Sharp, 35, of 21 Duke’s View, recalled the dramatic scenes.
She said: “It was quite extraordinary. They went all the way up the street and between the houses.
“As I came up the street I heard the buzzing noise but I did not think anything of it.
“But then I came up the hill and saw a big black cloud in front of my house. It was like a whirlwind of bees coming up the street.
“The kids in the area were all terrified and had to stay inside for the rest of the day there were so many bees around.”
Neighbour Victoria Lewis, 31, said her husband threw towels over their two childrens’ heads as the youngsters were escorted inside after school.
She added: “It was definitely not something we expected to come home to.
“Once the kids were inside, they did not want to come out of the house.”
Cheryl Heggie, 35, who witnessed the swarm moving up the street at about 2.45pm said: “It was unnerving, the quantity of bees was incredible.
“I heard a lot of buzzing and I looked out the front door and there was a black cloud moving up the street.”
The drama began at 1pm on Friday and lasted until Bryce Reynard from Inverness-shire Bee Keepers Association managed to capture the queen bee and remove the colony with the help of his wife Elizabeth five hours later.
The swarm was so massive they had to remove the bees in three trips, diving them to Balloch more than three miles away.
Each time they scooped as many as possible into a white straw “skep,” before turning it upside down on to a white sheet and tying it with rope.
The bees have now been rehomed at the Scottish School of Forestry, where they will be used for training bee keepers.
Mr Reynard said: “It was an awkward place for us to collect them because the pole was about 10ft tall. If we had been handling a branch it would have been easier as we can just snap it off.
“We have to move them more than three miles away from where we found them because otherwise they would just return to the same spot.
“If you don’t catch a swarm it might go in to somewhere like a chimney or roof space and cause bigger problems.”
Councillor Ian Brown, leader of the city of Inverness area said he had “never seen anything like it”.
He added: “In a situation like this the public should phone the police and they will get in touch with the beekeepers.”