A beekeeper in Wells has been stung by thieves who stole four of his empty hives.

Nigel Bell had put the hives in a field near Callow Hill 10 years ago, but has not kept bees for several years.

A wild swarm of bees adopted the hives as their home last year and Nigel was preparing to introduce new bees to them later this year.

He said: "The hives were empty but I was hoping to prepare them for colonies this year.

"It will cost me around £600 to replace them."

Each of the hives, which are wooden structures with aluminium fittings, could be home to 40 to 50,000 bees.

Honeybees have been in decline in the past two years, having fallen victim to poor winters and parasitic mites.

And the national bee shortage has led to a new crime of honeybee hive rustling, with bees being stolen to sell on the black market.

Beekeepers are being warned to protect their hives from rustlers as thefts rise to unprecedented levels due to a national shortage of bees.

The sharp decline in Britain's honeybee population following the arrival of varroa mites and two consecutive harsh winters has led to premium prices for top-quality bees and a black market trade in stolen hives.

Nigel said: "You would have to walk quite a bit on private land to discover these by accident. I suspect that someone knew they were there.

"Most non-beekeepers would steer clear of a hive because they would not know if it was occupied or not. Only a beekeeper or someone who knew about bees would have known if they were full or empty.

"As far as I know it is the first time that hives have been stolen in the county."

The hives were stolen between May 1 and May 16.

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call Wells police.