Heslington is a village on the University of York campus south-east of the city, with the heritage lake system of Heslington East providing wetland and marginal scrub alongside the university meadow management that creates some of the finest wildflower-margin habitat in the area. Lime and sycamore plantings on the campus, hawthorn hedgerows on the Hull Road and Heslington Lane field approaches, and reed-bed scrub at the lake edges give bees a varied forage through spring and summer. York and District Beekeepers maintain collector coverage across YO10.
Collectors attend swarms on the University of York campus lake-margin wildflower meadows and in the sycamore and lime plantings, in the hawthorn hedgerows on the Hull Road and Heslington Lane field boundaries, on the older stone-built cottage chimney stacks in the village core around Heslington Hall, and in the reed-bed margin scrub on the Heslington East lake system.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
YO19 5UF· approx. 3 km
Visit websiteLS25 6HH· approx. 17 km
Visit websiteYO8 9AN· approx. 19 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape on the Vale of York arable fields around Dunnington, Poppleton and Skelton opens the season from early April. Hawthorn is dense on the field-boundary hedgerows all around the city fringe. York city centre is defined by its lime flow in June — Museum Gardens, Dean's Park, the Knavesmire lime avenue and the Victorian residential streets of Bishopthorpe Road and Bootham all contribute. Bramble is prolific on the railway embankment and Strensall Common edges; willowherb and himalayan balsam follow on the Ouse riverside. Bell heather on Strensall Common gives a modest but genuine late-July supplement. Ivy on the City Walls, churchyard walls and older suburban gardens closes the year.
More on beekeeping in City of YorkReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
