Plymouth is a large naval and university city on Plymouth Sound, with Central Park, the Hoe and the Tamar Valley AONB providing very different beekeeping habitats within a few miles of each other. Central Park carries lime and sycamore; the Tamar Valley to the north holds ancient fruit orchards — cherry, apple, pear and damson — that have been worked by beekeepers for centuries; and the coastal scrubland carries bramble and gorse through summer.
Collectors here regularly handle swarms in the lime and sycamore trees of Central Park and the Hoe Promenade, in the old orchard boundaries of the Tamar valley villages of Bere Alston and Calstock, in the garden trees of the Mannamead and Peverell conservation areas, and in the chimney stacks and slate roofs of the Victorian naval terraces of Stonehouse and Devonport.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
PL1 2AA· approx. 1 km
Visit websitePL19 9DA· approx. 18 km
Visit websitePL17 8AX· approx. 18 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Few UK counties open as quickly. Gorse and blackthorn flowering on the cob hedges of the South Hams can carry colonies into a strong early build-up, followed by the sycamore and lime flows of the river valleys — the Exe, Teign and Dart in particular. Sweet chestnut dots Haldon and the east Devon coast; Dartmoor's bell and ling heather give a classic, thick, ambercast crop into August. On Exmoor, the north-slope bilberry and late ling heather feed smaller, darker crops still prized by local keepers.
More on beekeeping in DevonReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
