Bridgnorth is a cliff-top market town on the Severn in east Shropshire, split between High Town on the sandstone cliff and Low Town on the river bank below, connected by the steepest inland cliff railway in England. The Shropshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the ancient oak woodland and riverside willows of the Severn valley, the old orchard and hop country of the Worfe valley, the Wyre Forest fringe to the south-east and the old hedge-network farmland of the Mor Brook catchment — gives local bees access to a varied mixed-woodland season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older walled gardens and lime trees of the High Street and East Castle Street conservation areas, along the Severn riverside willows and alder carrs at Quatford and Hampton Loade, in the old orchard remnants and hop-yard hedgerows of the Worfe valley towards Worfield, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older sandstone town-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
DY11 6TL· approx. 21 km
Visit websiteDY9 7PU· approx. 21 km
Visit websiteDY10 4PY· approx. 26 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Early sycamore and hawthorn open on the Severn Valley; oilseed rape is common on the North Shropshire plain. Lime at Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Oswestry gives a strong June flow. Bramble is dense; the mosses of Whixall, Fenn and Bettisfield contribute a patchy but distinctive late summer flow of bog rosemary and cross-leaved heath. The Long Mynd, Stiperstones and Clee Hills provide bilberry and late ling heather — still migrated to by Shropshire beekeepers in August. Ivy on the old red-brick farms and timber-framed cottages closes the year.
More on beekeeping in ShropshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
