Syston is a market town north of Leicester on the River Wreake, a tributary of the Soar, set between the city's northern edge and the pastoral and arable farmland rising towards the Leicestershire Wolds and Charnwood Forest. The River Wreake flood meadows and willow fringe at Barkby and Rearsby, the old hedged ridge-and-furrow pasture of the Birstall and Thurmaston fringe and the lime-lined streets of the older town centre give local bees access to a reliable summer flow from spring hawthorn through to autumn ivy in an area where open farmland remains accessible on all sides despite rapid residential growth.
Collectors in Syston regularly attend swarms in the riverside willows and watermeadow margins of the Wreake between Syston and Rearsby, in the garden limes and mature hedgerow trees of the Highgate Street and Melton Road conservation area, in the elder and hawthorn scrub on the Watermead Country Park fen-edge fringe south of town, and in chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian terrace and cottage properties near the High Street.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CV11 5DN· approx. 32 km
Visit websiteCV21 2JT· approx. 37 km
Visit websiteNG318JS· approx. 39 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.
