Apparently what was happening was that the queen leaves the hive to create a new colony, she takes with her approximately 60% of the worker bees, these can number tens of thousands. She then settles in a temporary location and all the workers surround her for her protection. They can stay there for several days, while the scout bees find a new hive location, which they then move to.
It was an amazing sight and fortunately they settled low down, this gave me the opportunity to get some close-up shots.
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