Marlow is a regatta town on the Thames at the foot of the Chilterns, with a famous suspension bridge and the beechwood slopes of Winter Hill rising steeply behind. The South Bucks BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the ancient beechwoods of the Chiltern escarpment, the Thames riverside willows and watermeadow margins, the chalk grassland of Bisham Woods and the old walled gardens of the Marlow High Street conservation area — gives local bees a varied Thames-valley and Chiltern season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and lime trees of the High Street and West Street conservation areas, along the Thames riverside willows and watermeadow margins at Marlow Lock and Hurley, in the ancient beechwood and scrub margins of Bisham Woods and Winter Hill, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Regency and Victorian town-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
HP11 1BJ· approx. 7 km
Visit websiteHP9 2XG· approx. 13 km
Visit websiteSL4 3AX· approx. 15 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The Chiltern beech hangers produce an unusual honeydew flow some years; lime, field maple and sweet chestnut are the more reliable June flows through Marlow, High Wycombe, Amersham and Chalfont. In the Vale, oilseed rape dominates the spring and field beans support early June. Bramble is dense on the commons; rosebay willowherb fills every beech-clearing on the scarp. A strong late ivy flow runs across the flint-walled villages and ancient churchyards of the scarp foot.
More on beekeeping in BuckinghamshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
