Bee swarm in Margate? Help is a minute away.

Margate is the largest town on the Isle of Thanet, a chalk peninsula jutting into the southern North Sea, and its flat, open farmland gives foraging bees an unusually clean oilseed rape flow in May across the wide arable fields stretching towards Birchington and Minster. Beyond the crop acres, the coastal fringe carries sea kale, red valerian and viper's bugloss on the sandy and chalky clifftops, and the sheltered walled gardens of the Cliftonville and Westbrook suburbs hold a good bramble and lime flow through the summer. The Thanet BKA has an active local collector network.

Few places open as explosively as Kent. Cherry, apple, pear and plum in the orchards of Faversham, Tenterden and the Medway bring an intense early flow, followed closely by oilseed rape on the North Downs dip slopes. Lime and sweet chestnut carry hives through June, particularly in the coppiced woods of the Weald. Late summer is often dominated by fireweed on the chalk pits and disturbed ground, with a strong and valuable ivy flow across the coastal plain from Deal to Whitstable. Hops, though decorative for bees, add to the mosaic.