Kirkby in Ashfield is a former colliery and market town in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire on the Derbyshire–Nottinghamshire border, set between the Leen valley and the Annesley and Kirkby woodland fringe. The Nottinghamshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the colliery spoil and rosebay willowherb rides of the Annesley and Kirkby woodlands, the Leen and Dawn riverside willows and watermeadow margins, the old parkland and estate lime avenues of Kirkby House grounds, and the bramble-rich hedgerows of the Ashfield farmland fringe — gives local bees a strong colliery-belt summer flow.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and lime trees of the Market Place and Station Street conservation areas, in the rosebay willowherb rides and oak woodland of the Annesley Woodhouse colliery nature area, along the Leen and Dawn riverside willows and watermeadow margins towards Annesley, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian colliery-town and market properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NG15 9GA· approx. 7 km
Visit websiteDE55 7LX· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteS41 8NA· approx. 21 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape dominates the spring flow on the light sandy soils between Newark and Retford. Sycamore and horse chestnut carry May; lime lights the streets of Nottingham, West Bridgford, Mansfield and Worksop. Sherwood Forest gives a strong sweet-chestnut and oak-honeydew contribution in June. Rosebay willowherb is exceptionally heavy on the ex-colliery spoil heaps — a genuinely distinctive Nottinghamshire flow — and bramble fills every disused rail corridor. Ivy on old cottage walls closes a productive year.
More on beekeeping in NottinghamshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
