Nottingham is the historic city at the heart of the East Midlands, set on a sandstone bluff above the Trent with Sherwood Forest to the north and the Vale of Belvoir farmland to the east. The Nottinghamshire BKA is one of the most active in the East Midlands, and the city's parks — the Arboretum, Wollaton Park, the Trent riverside and the allotment-dense Victorian suburbs — combined with the lime-avenue canopy of the older streets, give city bees a more productive season than the urban density suggests.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the lime trees and old walled gardens of the Lace Market and Park conservation areas, along the Trent riverside willows and watermeadow margins at Trent Bridge and Colwick, in the old parkland and walled garden remnants of Wollaton Park, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian and Edwardian city-centre and Lace Quarter properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NG15 9GA· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteDE55 7LX· approx. 25 km
Visit websiteNG318JS· approx. 33 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.
