Pulborough is a small Arun valley town backed by the South Downs, best known for the RSPB's Pulborough Brooks wetland reserve whose sallow carr, water-mint and wildflower meadows are exceptional early and mid-season forage. The farmland between the town and Amberley Wild Brooks carries oil-seed rape in spring, and the hedgerow lanes towards Coldwaltham and Bury hold bramble, clover and field bean through summer.
Local collectors regularly attend swarms in the garden hedgerows along the Stane Street corridor, in the old churchyard yews and boundary oaks of the village fringe, on the willow and alder of the Brooks margins, and in the roof voids of older properties on the Rectory Lane and Swan Corner ends of town.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
RH14 0DS· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteBN12 5JL· approx. 16 km
Visit websitePO18 0EE· approx. 17 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The county is carried by a long, staggered honey flow. Spring opens on the blackthorn and hawthorn of the Downs, followed by field maple and sycamore on the Weald, and the sweet-chestnut coppice still worked around the Arun and Rother valleys. Early summer brings white clover on the grazed chalk, bramble in every hedgerow, and the heavy lime flow that lines the streets of Chichester, Arundel and Horsham. Late summer leans on rosebay willowherb, balsam along the Adur, and a strong ivy flow into October on sheltered south-facing lanes. It is a long season, and hives work hard.
More on beekeeping in West SussexReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
