Burgie was buzzing at the weekend for more reasons than one as an equestrian event was delayed by a swarm of bees.
A queen bee took a fancy to one of the jumps set up for the arena section of the popular annual gala near Forres and set up home in it.
And very quickly she was joined by at least another thousand, meaning competitors and spectators had to be evacuated from the area.
Competition was delayed on Saturday for around two hours while local experts were contacted to come and deal with the uninvited guests.
And yesterday another had to be brought in as the problem continued despite the removal of the queen.
Organiser Polly Lochore praised the work of safety staff who got everyone out of the way.
“This was a new thing for us. Extraordinary scenes,” she said.
“We had very sensible advice and I did not hear about anyone getting stung.”
She said they were delighted with the turnout to this year’s event, which enjoyed “perfect” conditions – and are waiting to see how much it has raised for Riding for the Disabled and other good causes.
One of those caught up in the scare was Lyn McFadzean, the former secretary of the event, who was about to start her round.
She said: “I was in the arena on my own horse, Brookwood Braveheart, the bell had gone and we were coming into the first fence when the bell went again to tell us to stop.
“There was a huge swarm of bees in the trees on the corner of one of the wings of the showjumping arena, apparently there was a ‘queen bee’ in residence and we weren’t allowed to move it, so a call was made to a local beekeeper,.
“We had to clear the showjumping arena and the adjacent warm-up area and, for health and safety reasons, everything stopped.”
She added with a smile: ” The beekeeper was definitely worth his salt as he left with the ‘queen’ and 2,500 bees, he told us that he was going to put them in a hive and call it ‘Burgie’ so hopefully soon we may have some honey to look forward to.”
Lyn was none the worse for her ordeal as she and her five year old brown gelding later finished in a creditable fourth place in Section ‘A’ of the BE90 class.
