Rugeley is a market town on the Trent at the north-east edge of Cannock Chase AONB, with the power-station cooling towers no longer visible since demolition and the Chase heathland rising to the south-west. The Staffordshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the heather and birch woodland of Cannock Chase, the Trent riverside willows and meadowsweet, the old parkland limes and walled gardens of Shugborough Hall and the mixed farmland of the Trent valley fringe — gives local bees a varied mixed-season backed by genuine Chase heather in late summer.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and hedgerow oaks of the Market Place and Horsefair conservation areas, on the heather and bilberry moorland margins of Cannock Chase at Etching Hill and Brindley Heath, along the Trent riverside willows and watermeadow margins at Armitage and Handsacre, 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.
ST17 0UP· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteB74 2YT· approx. 22 km
Visit websiteDE13 0BN· approx. 23 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.
