Tamworth is a market town where the Tame and Anker rivers meet in south-east Staffordshire, with a Norman castle above the confluence and the mixed farming country of the Staffordshire–Warwickshire border stretching east and north. The Staffordshire BKA covers the town, and the surrounding landscape — the Tame and Anker watermeadow willows, the old parkland and castle grounds, the colliery reclamation grasslands of the Dosthill and Bolehall fringe and the hedged farmland of the Drayton Bassett and Fazeley countryside — gives local bees a productive river-junction season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and lime trees of the Market Street and Church Street conservation areas, along the Tame and Anker riverside willows and watermeadow margins at Castle Grounds and Kettlebrook, in the old parkland remnants of Tamworth Castle grounds, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older market-town and Victorian properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
B74 2YT· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteCV11 5DN· approx. 19 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.
