Watch bee swarm invade the pitch at Hastings United Football Club

This morning (May 9), groundsman Simon Rudkins opened up The Pilot Field to let a contractor in to do some renovation work at the stadium.

He then spotted something 'not right' on the pitch - and as he got closer it became clear the pulsing circle was a swarm of bees, which he initially estimated to be 500 to 1000-insects strong but then later revised up to 30,000.

He said: "I just thought: I hope I don't get stung.

"I kept calm and didn't make any erratic movements that might scare them.

"I wouldn't mind one sting, but I definitely wouldn't want half a dozen."

He rang a friend who keeps bees, Nick Packham, who gave him some advice on how to move them.

Simon said: "Apparently they do this when they are looking for a nest. The queen must have been in there somewhere and the worker bees were around her. Apparently they very rarely sting when they are about to build a nest because they are full of honey to build the cone."

Time was of the essence.

Simon explained: "I had to get them off the pitch, otherwise the contractor was going to go over them with a tractor.

"So I put a wheelie bin over them and closed the lid."

He added: "When they were in the wheelie bin and you put your hand on the outside, you could feel the vibrations from all the buzzing that was happening in there."

The bees are now on their way to a new home: with Nick, who lives near Burwash.

The groundsman, who has been in and out of the role for more than a decade, said it was the first time he had seen something like this.

"There is always something to come up and keep you on your toes," he said.