Bellaghy is a small village in south Londonderry, birthplace of Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, whose poetry is steeped in the surrounding Bann Valley landscape. The Bann Valley wetlands and the neighbouring Lough Beg — a wildflower-rich SSSI — provide an exceptional wet-meadow forage resource, with meadowsweet, yellow flag iris, ragged-robin and purple loosestrife throughout the summer. Hawthorn and blackthorn line the drumlin hedges on the farm lanes surrounding the village; willows and alder fringe the river margins and drainage channels. Ivy on old stone walls and the remains of Bellaghy Bawn castle gives important late-season forage into October.
Collectors attend swarms in the Lough Beg SSSI wet-meadow margins and willow carr, along the Bann Valley drainage channel willows and alder east of the village, in the hawthorn and blackthorn hedgerows on the drumlin farm lanes toward Castledawson, at Bellaghy Bawn ivy-covered castle ruins, and in the garden trees and eaves of older village properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BT26 6NH· approx. 54 km
CA24 3HZ· approx. 195 km
Visit websiteCA13 0AU· approx. 204 km
Association data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Coastal gorse on the north coast carries an early flow. Blackthorn, hawthorn and sycamore fill May. Lime dominates June in Derry, Coleraine and Limavady. The Sperrins contribute bell and ling heather from late July. The Roe and Bann valleys bring himalayan balsam into a strong late-summer flow; coastal sea-thrift and sea-aster at Magilligan add seasoning; ivy closes a long year on whitewashed cottage walls.
More on beekeeping in County LondonderryReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
