Stewartstown is a small market town on the edge of the Lough Neagh basin, positioned between Cookstown and Dungannon in the heart of east Tyrone's drumlin farmland. The Lough Neagh shoreline is within easy reach to the east, where extensive willow scrub, reed-bed and wet meadow habitats provide forage through a long season from early April. The surrounding drumlin landscape is defined by dense whitethorn hedgerows and blackthorn margins giving a rich May flow across the productive farmed ground. Bramble and rosebay willowherb fill the rough margins throughout summer. Sycamore and lime are present in the older parts of the town, with ivy on stone walls and cottage gables.
Collectors attend swarms along the willow scrub and reed margins of the Lough Neagh shore drains to the east of town, in the whitethorn hedgerows on the drumlin farm lanes toward Cookstown and Dungannon, in the bramble and hawthorn scrub on the rough ground around the town edges, and in the eaves and ivy-clad stone walls of older properties near the town centre.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BT26 6NH· approx. 50 km
CA24 3HZ· approx. 203 km
Visit websiteCA13 0AU· approx. 214 km
Association data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Blackthorn and whitethorn drumlin hedges open the year. Sycamore and hawthorn dominate May. Lime is present in Omagh, Dungannon and Strabane. The Sperrins contribute bell and ling heather in August — a dark, thick crop some Tyrone beekeepers work seriously. Bilberry in the oakwoods adds a June supplement; rosebay willowherb is dense on every disused rail line and stone quarry. Ivy finishes the year on whitewashed cottages.
More on beekeeping in County TyroneReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
