Here are tho photos from the latest call to perform a cutout. The bees are nested on the right hand side of the chimney in the last picture. The house is due to be demolished in a fortnight's time so if we want it it's a next weekend job.
Looking down the chimney the nest appears to be about 3 feet down. We could not see how far down the comb extends. We decided not to stick our heads into the opening as the guards were getting a bit edgey.
The roof is a bit risky due to height and slope (those live power cables we climbed over to get to the chimney should be disconnected this week), but alternative access is through the brickwork on the first floor (second floor for those of you on the other side of the pond) which should bring us in just below the comb (depending on how far down it extends).
So Ozbuzz, it'll be a bit of work, are you up for it?
Assuming that we open up the chimney and we are just below the comb, I was thinking that we take the whole nest in one piece (if possible) and dump it straight into a box and worry about putting it into frames at a later time once it has been relocated. What do you, or anyone else, think?
The weather is mostly cold at the moment (winter but improving!) with the occasional warm day. Which is why I want to disrupt the bees as little as possible.