Bee swarm collection in Surrey

Spring builds fast on blackthorn, hawthorn and horse chestnut along the North Downs scarp, then leans heavily on field maple, sycamore and the urban lime avenues of Guildford, Dorking and Woking. The lowland heaths — Chobham, Frensham, Thursley — give a late bell heather crop in good Augusts that colonies here can count on, supplemented by rosebay willowherb across the MoD training land. Bramble is dense from Box Hill to the Surrey Hills AONB, and the old walled churchyards carry a strong ivy flow into autumn.

Surrey BKA runs nine active divisions — Croydon, Epsom, Guildford, Reigate, Wimbledon, Kingston, Weybridge, West Surrey and Wandsworth among them — and between them cover everything from Richmond Park rooftops to Haslemere gardens. Swarm call-outs in the commuter belt often come from new-build estates, school grounds and veg-patch allotments during the Saturday lunchtime peak.