Wimbledon is London's highest suburb, its village core and the ancient oak and bracken of Wimbledon Common combining to make this one of the most bee-friendly corners of inner south-west London. The Common's heather, bramble and lime gives local colonies an unusually wild forage base for the city, and the garden lime trees of the Village and Parkside fringe add to a season that runs from early March crocus to late October ivy.
Collectors in Wimbledon regularly attend swarms in the oak boundaries and lime scrub of Wimbledon Common, in the large walled gardens of the Village and Southside Common, in the Victorian chimney pots of the residential streets near the town centre, and in the garden hedgerows of Merton Park and Raynes Park.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
SM4 5JD· approx. 3 km
Visit websiteKT17 2AF· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteTW11BH· approx. 9 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.
