YOU had to bee there to catch a glimpse of a swarm of bees trying to find their way onto Noah's Ark this morning.

The tiny black and gold creatures certainly did not come in two by two when they made a beeline for High Barnet, eventually settling for the sign for the Noah's Ark Children's Hospice charity shop.

Beekeeper Ian enjoyed the celebrity status as he tried to coax the tiny creatures into a box to bring them to safety.

Helen Bridgewood, who stopped to watch the scene unfold, said: "The beekeeper kept scraping them off into a cardboard box and they would simply regroup. It was all rather entertaining."

Clive Cohen, the swarm control officer for the Barnet Beekeepers Association, says it is not known how the bees ended up there.

Mr Cohen said: "We have no idea where they came from, but in this weather, bees can travel up to two or three miles.

“We have more than 100 beekeepers in Barnet and when bees swarm, they are docile because they are carrying double their weight in honey.

“I’m sure a lot of people who stopped to look this morning did not know they were carrying honey, and merely stopped because they were in an unusual location. But I do not recall seeing a swarm in such a troublesome place before.”

He believes the bees could have been attracted to the red and yellow colours of the store’s signage.

They will be taken away and tested for infections.