Bodmin is the county town of Cornwall, set on the western edge of Bodmin Moor with the Camel estuary valley to the north and the old wooded country of the Glynn valley to the south. The East Cornwall BKA covers the town and the surrounding countryside, and the landscape — upland heather and bilberry on the moor, the old valley-floor orchards and hedged pasture of the mid-Cornwall farmland, the Camel Trail riverside willows and the wooded ravines of the Fowey and its tributaries — gives local bees a varied season from early blackthorn to late heather.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and walled plots of the Fore Street and Dennison Road conservation areas, on the heather and gorse margins of the Bodmin Moor commons towards Cardinham and Blisland, along the Camel Trail riverside willows and alders at Dunmere and Nanstallon, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older town-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
PL30 5AE· approx. 4 km
Visit websitePL27 7DD· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteTR2 4LG· approx. 26 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens with gorse on every headland, flowering intermittently most of the year but peaking in April. Blackthorn on the cob hedges lights up the byways; sycamore and hawthorn carry the early build; and the slow-growing pittosporum and myrtle in the sub-tropical gardens of the south coast provide unusual supplementary forage. Bramble is dominant through July, bell heather appears on Bodmin Moor and the Penwith commons in August, and the mild autumn leans on ivy and fuchsia hedging well into October.
More on beekeeping in CornwallReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
