Reports of a bee invasion near City Hall had phones buzzing at The Royal Gazette last week.

But according to Corporation of Hamilton secretary Roger Sherratt, it was not the first time that the flying visitors have swarmed around the city.

"We had a problem with a swarm of bees located in a tree, right at the top of Queen Street last year,'' he recalled.

"We suspect that there's another hive this year. We've had quite a few complaints during the past week,'' he added.

Once the swarm was located last year, local bee catchers captured and moved them, Mr. Sherratt explained.

But they were still in the process of finding the beehive that seemed to have been plaguing passersby recently.

"There is a Corporation of Hamilton employee, Norman Dunstan, who is responsible for servicing the trash bins in the city,'' Mr. Sherratt stated.

"He has been paying particular attention to the problem, and he's been spraying the bins with insecticide and Baygon.'' He assured the public that the Corporation was aware of the problem, and was attempting to bring the bee annoyance under control.