Horfield is a north Bristol suburb extending between the Gloucester Road corridor and the Stoke Park estate fringe, anchored by Horfield Common and the Memorial Stadium. The Bristol BKA covers the area, and the surrounding landscape — Horfield Common itself with its mature oaks and lime trees, the allotment gardens on the Stoke Park slope, the scrub and grassland margins of the railway corridor to the east and the linden street planting of the Edwardian residential streets — provides bees a solid mid-city forage from hawthorn in May through lime in June and bramble into late summer.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the mature lime and oak trees of Horfield Common and the Memorial Stadium grounds, in the older walled garden and hedge remnants of the Kellaway Avenue and Wellington Hill residential areas, along the Stoke Brook margins and the railway embankment scrub to the east, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the Edwardian and interwar semi-detached housing throughout the suburb.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BS1 4QS· approx. 5 km
Visit websiteBS32 4PG· approx. 11 km
Visit websitebs313ep· approx. 14 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.
