Fishponds is an east Bristol suburb straddling the valley of the Frome, named for the medieval monastic stewponds that once lined the riverbanks and now commemorated in the long linear greenspace of the Frome Valley Walkway. The Bristol BKA covers the area, and the surrounding landscape — the Frome riverbanks with their willows, himalayan balsam and watermeadow margins, the mature garden trees and orchard remnants of the older residential streets, the scrub and bramble of the disused Midland Railway corridor through Staple Hill, and the lime and sycamore of the Oldbury Court estate parkland above the Frome gorge — gives local bees a varied east-Bristol season from hawthorn in May through balsam in August and ivy well into autumn.
Collectors regularly attend swarms along the Frome Valley Walkway willows and watermeadow margins from Snuff Mills to Oldbury Court, in the older garden and orchard remnants of the Lodge Causeway and Downend Road residential belt, on the bramble and scrub of the Staple Hill Railway Path, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Edwardian and Victorian terraces around Fishponds Road.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BS1 4QS· approx. 6 km
Visit websitebs313ep· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteBS32 4PG· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The early flow rides on blackthorn, cherry plum and hawthorn in Ashton Court and the Downs. The lime avenues of Clifton, Redland and central Bristol produce a classic urban June crop. Ashton Court oaks and sweet chestnut contribute; bramble blankets the Avon Gorge and the old rail corridors of the harbour. Rosebay willowherb and buddleia pick up the post-industrial brownfield; ivy on the high garden walls of Victorian terraces closes the year. Himalayan balsam along the Frome is a summer supplement.
More on beekeeping in BristolReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
