Leicester is a major city in the East Midlands, with a Roman and Viking heritage and a diverse population that has brought beekeeping traditions from South Asia and Africa into the local scene. The Leicestershire and Rutland BKA covers the city and county, and the surrounding landscape — the Soar riverside willows and watermeadow margins, the old parkland of Bradgate Park with its ancient oaks and heather, the lime-avenue streets of the Victorian suburbs and the allotment fringe of the older city areas — gives city bees a varied season from early sallow to late ivy.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older lime trees and garden remnants of the New Walk and Cathedral conservation areas, along the Soar riverside willows and watermeadow margins at Abbey Park and Aylestone Meadows, on the heather and ancient oak margins of Bradgate Park towards Cropston, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian and Edwardian city-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CV11 5DN· approx. 26 km
Visit websiteCV21 2JT· approx. 30 km
Visit websiteCV3 4AQ· approx. 36 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape and field beans drive the arable flow. Sycamore and horse chestnut in the market towns build the mid-May crop; lime dominates June in Leicester, Loughborough and Market Harborough. Charnwood brings sweet chestnut, bracken and patches of bilberry; Bradgate and Belvoir parks add ancient lime and oak. Bramble is universal; rosebay willowherb fills ex-quarry ground around Mountsorrel. Ivy on the red-brick farmhouses and old pub gardens closes the season strongly.
More on beekeeping in LeicestershireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
