Warkworth is a medieval fortified village on the River Coquet between Alnwick and Amble, dominated by the great Percy castle that commands the loop of the river above the harbour. The village clusters around its Norman church and the single fortified bridge, and the surrounding landscape is one of coastal farmland, river meadows and dune grassland — a rich and varied forage territory. The Coquet valley carries hawthorn, willow, meadowsweet and white clover on its water meadows; gorse on the coastal heathland fringe; and the bird's-foot trefoil and sea campion of the nearby dune systems at Alnmouth Bay extend the coastal forage season well into summer.
Local collectors are called to swarms in the lime and sycamore trees of the castle grounds and St Lawrence churchyard, in the stone wall crevices and older roof voids of the fortified properties along Castle Street and Bridge Street, along the hawthorn and willow scrub of the Coquet bank footpath between Warkworth and the harbour at Warkworth Haven, and in the gorse and blackthorn of the coastal headland between the village and Alnmouth Bay.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteNE12 8EH· approx. 36 km
Visit websiteNE9 5AX· approx. 44 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The northern moors — Simonside, Redesdale, the Cheviots — carry some of the heaviest ling heather flows in England, with colonies migrated in from as far as the Tyne Valley and beyond. Bell heather opens the late-summer flow; ling finishes it. Sycamore and hawthorn are the dominant hedgerow spring flows. Coastal dune plants at Lindisfarne and Druridge add unusual seasoning. Rosebay willowherb flushes the post-industrial Tyne corridor, and ivy on dark sandstone walls closes the year.
More on beekeeping in NorthumberlandReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
