Irthlingborough is a small town on the south bank of the River Nene between Wellingborough and Higham Ferrers, where the river widens across its flood plain to create water meadows, gravel-pit lakes and the Nene Way long-distance riverside path. The flood-plain willows and willowherb fringe, the meadowsweet and purple loosestrife of the old Nene washlands, and the white clover of the improved flood-plain grasslands sustain summer colonies well, supplemented by the hawthorn and blackthorn hedgerows rising on the arable slopes above the valley.
Collectors in Irthlingborough regularly attend swarms in the riverside willows and watermeadow scrub of the Nene flood plain at Nene Valley Lakes, in the older garden hedgerows and mature apple trees of the High Street and College Street conservation area, in the bramble and elder margins of former ironstone workings on the valley sides, and in chimney pots and eaves of the older red-brick terrace properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NN3 7AX· approx. 16 km
Visit websiteMK9 3EP· approx. 33 km
Visit websitePE7 3BN· approx. 35 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The county opens on a mix of oilseed rape and field beans across the arable belt between Kettering and Daventry. Hawthorn, blackthorn and field maple line the ironstone walls and quickset hedges. The estate woodlands — Rockingham, Salcey, Whittlewood — produce a sweet-chestnut and lime flow in June, particularly in the older planting blocks. Bramble is dense along the Nene Valley; rosebay willowherb flushes the disused quarry and railway land; and ivy in ironstone villages gives a generous late crop.
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