HAVERFORDWEST was a hive of activity on Sunday afternoon, as a car parked on Castle Square was covered in bees.

The Mitsubishi Outlander was buzzing, as a swarm of bees had decided to rest on the boot and side of the car.

And a grandmother got a real buzz when a swarm of bees were still following her around 28 hours later.

Carol Howarth, 65, was amazed when the swarm flew down onto her car with up to 20,000 of the insects covering the boot.

Beekeepers and passers by helped get most of the bees off her car.

However, as she drove off in her 4x4 - hundreds more of the bees then followed her the two miles home to carry on chasing her car.

Bee-mused Carol said: "It was incredible really. I've never seen anything like it - it just goes to show the power of nature."

Carol parked her Mitsubishi in the town centre at Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, at lunchtime on Sunday for a shopping trip.

But while she was away, the thousands of bees suddenly swarmed down to cover the boot of her car - and passers-by were amazed at the buzzing spectacle.

While she was away, the rescue squad managed to capture the swarm in a special bee-keepers box.

She drove off thinking the drama was all over - but some of the swarm decided to follow her home. She then had to call out beekeepers again on Monday at 6pm to box up the rest.

Carol said: "One theory was that the queen was trapped in my car and the swarm were following her.

"But they couldn't find the queen anywhere so I've no idea if that was right.

"Apparently bees can swarm at this time of the year and it is a very strong instinct for them to follow the queen."

Carol arrived back at her car after a passing National Park ranger spotted the bizarre "brown splodge" on the car parked outside a pub.

She said: "When I got back it was all over - or so I thought. I drove off without thinking about it too much, to be honest.

"But then the next day I realised that some of the bees had followed me home. There were a lot less than the first swarm.

"I still don't really understand why because they couldn't see the queen anywhere. Perhaps they just like the heat of my car."

Tom Moses, a Discovery Ranger for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park was driving through Haverfordwest, when he spotted the bees.

Tom said: “I was heading with my wife and daughter to walk the dog up at the Racecourse, when I spotted the bees.

“As a Discovery Ranger I’m aware of the importance of bees and their plight against pesticides and habitat loss, so I needed to help.

“I was a little worried, as the car was parked near some pubs, that someone would come and do something silly, so I wanted to make sure the bees were looked after.

“I rang Roger Burns, after finding his number on the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association website, and luckily he came with a box and a bee keeping hat, and he started to get the bees in the box.

“Unfortunately, Roger had an appointment so had to go, but left his beekeeping equipment with Andrew Beyba, a passer-by and former beekeeper who stopped to offer a hand.

“The bees started going into the box, and we were hoping the Queen was in there, but then a sudden gust of wind blew the box off the car, and the lid came off and all the bees came swarming out again.

“It’s safe to say I got stung quite a few times.”

Tom then found another number on the Beekeepers’ website, and rang Jeremy Percy who sent along a fully kitted out beekeeper, with suit and bee smoker.

“I was there for about three hours,” Tom said, “but I just wanted to make sure the bees were safe, because I know the importance of them.

“Maybe the town can now be renamed Hiverfordwest?”