Bee swarm collection in Somerset

The apple orchards of Taunton Deane, Glastonbury and the Tone Valley give an early, intense flow in May; sycamore and hawthorn run behind. Lime scents the streets of Bath and Wells in June; bramble blankets every hedge. The Levels contribute a long late flow on willowherb, loosestrife and himalayan balsam along the rhynes. Mendip provides limestone grassland herbs — wild thyme, marjoram, knapweed — and the Quantocks give a small but real late heather supplement. Ivy closes the year on old orchards and stone churchyards.

Somerset Beekeepers' Association has a particularly well-organised training programme, with branches in Taunton, Yeovil, Wells, Bath and Chard. Cider orchard pollination remains a genuine commercial relationship here, and collectors know how to handle swarms in ancient lime-trees, barn roof voids and stone-built chimneys.