ENVIRONMENT Agency staff flew into action last week after a complaint that small dots of yellow liquid were falling on cars and garden furniture in Watchet.

The finger was pointed towards local industry and there was concern among residents that the substance could be sulphur.

So samples were taken and examined under the microscope by agency biologists.

And the answer they came up with was that the culprits were bees - the yellow dots were bee dropping containing mainly pollen grains.

"We do see some unusual things in this job, but this is one of the most interesting," said Alan Trevelyan, of the Environment Agency.

"We had a similar case in Bridgwater a couple of years ago so we already had our suspicions that bees might be the cause.

"Apparently, it's quite a common phenomenon and natural behaviour for bees leaving the hive after they've digested pollen on 'cleansing flights'.

"We are glad to be able to reassure the residents of Watchet that their strange yellow dots are, in fact, harmless bee poo!"