Purfleet is a riverside town on the western edge of Thurrock where the Thames bends south towards Gravesend. The town has an industrial and military heritage — the Royal Purfleet Magazine, a historic gunpowder store, stood here for centuries — and now combines older residential streets with significant new development on the former oil storage and industrial land at Procter and Gamble's former works. The Thames-side location brings local bees within easy reach of the river-wall vegetation, the scrub grassland on the former industrial land, and the amenity planting of the new residential schemes.
Swarms in Purfleet most often settle in the bramble and elder scrub on the brownfield land and the river-wall margin, in the older properties along the High Street, in the garden trees and hedges of the residential streets, and in the new-build developments' roof spaces. The riverside scrub between the station and the ferry terminal is particularly productive for scout bees in May.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
DA1 2HY· approx. 4 km
Visit websiteDA14 5AW· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteRM2 5EL· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape is grown extensively on the London clay farmland across the northern part of Thurrock, from the plateau above South Ockendon and Aveley down to the river-side holdings around Purfleet and West Thurrock, delivering a strong April flow. Hawthorn is dense along the Thames-side sea walls and in the hedgerow network on the fields between Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham. The Thames Estuary saltmarshes and grazing marsh retained around Mucking, Coalhouse Fort and the western river bank carry sea lavender, sea purslane and glasswort through August — a distinctive estuarine nectar note. White clover fills the rough grassland of road verges and the brownfield margins around the Lakeside area. Bramble and elder are prolific on the embankments of the A13 corridor, the former industrial land around Tilbury Docks and the chalk grassland remnants at West Thurrock. Ivy finishes the season in October on the older brickwork and river-wall structures.
More on beekeeping in ThurrockReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
