Mrs Honeycombe was stung over 60 times by an angry bee swarm.

Caroline Honeycombe, her sister Jo Dawson, and Jo's eight-year-old daughter were in for a shock as they were attacked while walking their horses on a hilltop in St Ouen, Jersey. Caroline was stung more than 60 times and had to be taken to A&E, with her niece also requiring treatment for multiple stings around her head. The other horses panicked and bolted, but Caroline's pony, Blue, was stung around 80 times and needed emergency treatment from a vet.

The attack happened when a beekeeper was opening hives nearby, thought to contain around a million bees, to check on the honey in the combs. St Ouen Constable Richard Honeycombe, Caroline's father, said the parish had closed Mont Huelin on Wednesday night and the winding hill road would not re-open until Saturday to give the beekeeper, Nick Faulkner, ample time to move the hives. Richard went on to say that Faulkner came around on Tuesday evening with some jars of honey, and he was 'terribly apologetic and could not have been nicer.' Faulkner also said he would happily cover any expenses they had faced.

After recovering from the ordeal, Caroline said the bees were 'angry' and 'it was like being in the middle of a beehive.' She described how her horse Blue was 'screaming in pain' on the ground and she was desperately trying to fight off the bees with the other ponies running away. Fortunately, the beekeeper was there to help and grabbed one of the reins. Caroline said that if it weren't for him, she thinks they might have lost the horse altogether. They eventually managed to crawl away, both in agony, and went to A&E.

The possible reason for the attack was that the beekeeper had been removing honey from the hives, which makes bees naturally aggressive, and they spotted the dark-coloured horses. Bees are 'programmed' to defend against dark-coloured animals, such as bears and badgers, which steal their honey in the wild. A dark dog will tend to get stung more than a paler one. Luckily, the family is now recovering from the ordeal and Jo's daughter is 'fine physically but felt exhausted and remained emotional about the experience.'

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