Bembridge is a small village and harbour on the most easterly tip of the Isle of Wight — a sailing centre with sand dunes, a lifeboat station and the sheltered Brading Haven marshes behind it. The contrast between exposed coastal heath, saltmarsh, Culver Down chalk grassland and the farmland fringe of Brading gives local bees an unusual and diverse forage palette.
Swarms cluster in the gorse and bramble scrub of the dune paths above the lifeboat station, in the maritime garden hedgerows of the sailing-club area, on the chalk grassland scrub below Culver Cliff, and in the reed-bed margins of the Brading Marsh nature reserve. Collectors here cover the eastern tip of the island.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
PO33 4ES· approx. 10 km
Visit websitePO3 5FS· approx. 17 km
Visit websitePO14 2PE· approx. 17 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
A mild maritime climate gives the island an early start. Blackthorn and gorse carry the pre-hawthorn period; sycamore and horse chestnut follow. Lime in Ryde, Newport, Cowes and Ventnor gives a strong June flow. Bramble is dense on every hedge and undercliff; the Downs contribute chalk grassland herbs. A small late-summer heather patch on Shalfleet and Bouldnor common, combined with coastal sea-lavender and samphire flows, gives island honey a characteristic mineral edge. Ivy on flint cottage walls closes the year.
More on beekeeping in Isle of WightReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
