Kingston upon Thames sits where the Hogsmill meets the Thames, its busy market-town centre ringed by riverside meadows and the remnant scrubby commons of Surbiton and Berrylands. Bushy Park's avenue limes — among the finest lime avenues in southern England — give local colonies an exceptional June flow, while the Thames meadows and the garden hedgerows of the Long Ditton and Surbiton fringe carry them well into autumn.
Collectors in Kingston regularly handle swarms in the lime avenue of Bushy Park and the Thames riverside willows at Hampton Wick, in the mature garden hedgerows of Surbiton and Tolworth, in the Victorian chimney stacks of the town centre's older terraces, and along the Hogsmill riverside from Kingston to Ewell.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
KT8 0AG· approx. 4 km
Visit websiteTW11BH· approx. 5 km
Visit websiteKT17 2AF· approx. 7 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The capital opens early on crocus in the parks, then builds on blackthorn, cherry plum and Japanese cherry through March and April. The defining London flow is lime — avenues of common, small-leaved and silver lime line central streets from Regents Park to Bermondsey, producing the distinctively pale, mineral London honey of June. Bramble and rosebay willowherb fill brownfield sites and railway embankments, and a huge secondary ivy flow carries hives deep into autumn on Victorian cemeteries and garden boundaries.
More on beekeeping in Greater LondonReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
