Bottesford is a large residential and light-industrial settlement on the western edge of Scunthorpe, absorbed into the town's urban envelope but retaining its own centre around St Peter's Church and the shopping parade along Messingham Road. The suburb backs onto the flat clay farmland towards Messingham and Scawby Brook, where oilseed rape fields run right to the housing edge in April, and the hedgerow hawthorns on the lanes south to Hibaldstow provide a bridge between the spring rape flow and the summer countryside.
Swarm calls in Bottesford most often come from the inter-war and post-war residential streets around Messingham Road and the church, from the garden trees and hedges of the larger detached properties on the western edge, and from the farm buildings and hedgerow oaks on the Messingham Road agricultural land. Colonies expanding on the spring rape flow can cast swarms as early as late April in warm years.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
DN20 0JR· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteDN3 3AG· approx. 25 km
Visit websiteLN8 3TR· approx. 29 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape covers vast areas of the clay farmland between Scunthorpe, Brigg and Kirton in Lindsey, delivering a strong April flow that fills supers quickly on well-established colonies. White clover follows through June and July on the river meadows along the Trent and Ancholme corridors. The Isle of Axholme carries alder and willow carr along its drainage dykes — both valuable for early pollen — and bramble is prolific on the earthen embankments of Vermuyden's drainage channels through July. Hawthorn is dense in the hedgerow network on the Wolds escarpment above Kirton in Lindsey and Brigg. Willowherb colonises railway cuttings and roadside verges across Scunthorpe through August. Sycamore and lime shade the older streets of Brigg and Barton-upon-Humber, while ivy on the Humber-facing walls and churchyards in Barton closes the season in October.
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