Burton upon Trent is the famous brewing town on the Trent in south-east Staffordshire, with the wide gravel-bed Trent and its flood-meadow margins threading through the town and the mixed farmland of the Needwood Forest plateau to the north. The Staffordshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the riverside willows and meadowsweet of the Trent, the old parkland and walled gardens of Sinai Park and Branston, the heather and gorse of the Needwood plateau lanes and the waterside alder carrs at Walton-on-Trent — gives local bees a productive river-valley season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and lime trees of the High Street and Guild Street conservation areas, along the Trent riverside willows and watermeadow margins at Stapenhill and Branston, in the old parkland and orchard remnants of Sinai Park and Needwood Forest lanes, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older brewing-town Victorian properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
DE13 0BN· approx. 4 km
Visit websiteST17 0UP· approx. 27 km
Visit websiteB74 2YT· approx. 30 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape leads the early flow across the arable belt. Cannock Chase contributes a significant late heather crop — bell first, then ling — on its extensive sandy commons. The Staffordshire Moorlands add bilberry and small ling patches; lime in Stafford, Lichfield, Burton and Stoke-on-Trent fills the June streets. Bramble and rosebay willowherb are everywhere in the former colliery and brickworks land. Ivy carries hives into autumn on old red-brick terraces and the greenbelt villages.
More on beekeeping in StaffordshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
