Bee swarm in Fleur-de-lis? Help is a minute away.

Fleur-de-lis is a village in the Rhymney Valley between Pengam and Blackwood, its unusual French-derived name said to derive from a public house. The village sits on the valley slope with views across to the eastern ridge and the open moorland of Mynydd Bedwas. Hawthorn, blackthorn and sycamore on the valley-side hedgerows provide the spring flow; the Rhymney River corridor below carries elder and bramble; and the bilberry and gorse on the Mynydd Bedwas and Mynydd Islwyn ridges add a late-summer supplement typical of the Caerphilly heights.

Sycamore is the defining tree across these valleys, blanketing every south-facing slope and delivering a generous May flow almost regardless of colony location. Hawthorn on valley-side hedge lines and blackthorn in scrub above the terraces follows through late spring. White clover persists on allotment gardens, valley-floor parks and the gentler upland grazings from June onward. Bramble is dense on reclaimed colliery tips, forest margins and Sirhowy and Ebbw valley sides; bilberry and ling heather on the Gelligaer, Mynydd Islwyn and Mynydd Llangynidr plateaux provide a useful late-August supplement for hives on the valley rim. Alder and willow along the Rhymney, Sirhowy and Ebbw corridors contribute early pollen; meadowsweet and purple loosestrife on wetter valley-floor ground extend the late-summer flow. Ivy on old stone chapel walls and valley-side garden walls closes the year.