Wolverhampton is a major city in the Black Country, set on the coal-measure plateau west of Birmingham with East Park and West Park at its heart and the South Staffordshire greenbelt countryside immediately to the south and west. The Black Country BKA covers the city, and the surrounding landscape — the parkland limes and old walled gardens of the city parks, the canal towpath willows and hedgerow flora of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, the old colliery reclamation grasslands of the Smestow Valley and the mixed farmland of the South Staffordshire fringe — gives local bees a varied industrial-city and greenbelt season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden remnants and lime trees of the Queen Square and Chapel Ash conservation areas, along the Smestow Valley and Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal towpath willows and waterside margins, in the old parkland and walled garden remnants of Bantock Park, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older Victorian and Edwardian city-centre properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
DY9 7PU· approx. 15 km
Visit websiteB74 2YT· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteB13 8QG· approx. 22 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring is carried on blossoming garden cherry, blackthorn and horse chestnut in parks like Sutton, Lickey Hills and Cannon Hill. Urban limes — both small-leaved and hybrid — dominate the June flow, especially along the old tram and canal routes. Bramble is universal on allotments and towpaths, and rosebay willowherb flushes the brownfield and rail corridors through July. The Clent and Waseley Hills give a useful edge of hill forage to colonies in the southern fringe, and ivy closes a long urban season.
More on beekeeping in West MidlandsReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
