Princes Risborough is a small market town at the foot of the Chiltern escarpment where the chalk breaks into a broad vale, framed by the distinctive outline of the Whiteleaf Cross and the ancient ridge trackways of the Icknield Way. The combination of chalk downland with its sainfoin and wild thyme, the beech and yew hangers climbing the escarpment to Whiteleaf and Lacey Green, and the mixed hedgerow farmland of the vale below make this one of the most productive bee territories on the Chiltern scarp.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the old orchard and kitchen garden remnants of the town's Victorian villas off Bell Street and Manor Park Avenue, on the scrubby chalk grassland margins of Whiteleaf Hill nature reserve, along the hedge-lined drove tracks towards Monks Risborough, and in the eaves and chimney stacks of the older brick and flint cottages in the conservation area around the church.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
HP22 5TE· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteHP11 1BJ· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteHP9 2XG· approx. 19 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.
