Oswestry is a border market town in north-west Shropshire, close to the Wales border and below the hill fort of Old Oswestry. The Shropshire BKA covers the town and the surrounding countryside, where the old orchard and dairy country of the north Shropshire Plain, the limestone grassland of Llanymynech Rocks, the canal towpath willows and reed-beds of the Montgomery Canal, and the ancient hedged farmland of the upper Ceiriog and Dee fringe give local bees access to a varied borderland season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden and orchard remnants of the Willow Street and Church Street conservation areas, on the limestone grassland and scrub of Llanymynech Rocks and the Old Oswestry hillfort margins, along the Montgomery Canal towpath willows and reed-bed margins towards Maesbury and Queens Head, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older market-town properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
SY11 4AD· approx. 2 km
Visit websiteSY5 8NP· approx. 26 km
Visit websiteSY133JL· 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.
