Cannock is a market town on the south edge of Cannock Chase AONB in south Staffordshire, with the heather and birch-woodland plateau of the Chase rising immediately to the north. The Staffordshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the heather and ling of Cannock Chase, the old colliery reclamation grasslands of the Chase fringe, the Trent valley watermeadows to the south and the old orchard and garden country of the Hednesford and Heath Hayes fringe — makes Cannock one of the best-placed towns in the Midlands for heather-honey production.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and hedgerow oaks of the Market Place and High Green conservation areas, on the heather and bilberry moorland margins of Cannock Chase above Hednesford, along the Trent and Sow riverside willows and watermeadow margins towards Rugeley, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian colliery-town properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
ST17 0UP· approx. 11 km
Visit websiteB74 2YT· approx. 19 km
Visit websiteDY9 7PU· approx. 27 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.
