BEEKEEPERS in High Wycombe have been left in a sticky situation after a cleaning job proved potentially fatal for the hive.

Staff at the Environment Centre on Holywell Mead in Bassetsbury Lane, High Wycombe discovered the queen bee's apparently-lifeless body outside.

They had decided on Tuesday to give their hive its annual clean.

The clean up seemed to be going to plan, however, disaster struck when the time came to find the queen bee.

The desperate keepers searched for the leader, and eventually discovered her lying unresponsive in the sun.

Volunteer Frances Alexander, a former Mayor of High Wycombe, said: "All the time, beekeepers were looking for the queen to mark but did not find her."

The former Mayor said: "We slipped her back into the hive, and the bees crowded in around her.

"They were still there when I left the Centre two hours later."

There is a debate now as to whether the queen will survive.

If she doesn't staff will have to rely on bees moving a recently laid egg into the hive to grow a new queen.

If this fails, the colony will collapse, Mrs Alexander said.

But queens have been known to play dead, she said.

The Environment Centre is run by volunteers and will be open all week over half term, 11am - 4pm, except Sundays, 2.30pm - 4.30pm.