Amesbury is a market town on the Avon in the heart of Salisbury Plain, immediately north of Stonehenge and surrounded by some of the largest areas of unimproved chalk grassland in England. The Salisbury and District BKA covers the town and the Plain, and the surrounding landscape — chalk downland with its horseshoe vetch, sainfoin and clustered bellflower, the riverside willows of the Avon at Woodford and Durrington and the ancient earthwork margins of the plain — gives local bees access to some of the finest chalk-grassland forage in southern England.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden and hedge remnants of the High Street and Church Street conservation area, along the Avon riverside willows and watermeadow margins towards Durrington and Bulford, on the chalk grassland and scrub margins of the Stonehenge WHS and the Avon valley sides, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older market-town properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
SP1 1JH· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteSP10 3JH· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteSP6 3NH· approx. 24 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Early blackthorn and hawthorn along the cowslip-strewn down edges open the year, followed by oilseed rape on the clay vale around Chippenham. Sainfoin is still grown here, and chalk grassland herbs — thyme, marjoram, knapweed, yellow rattle — give a herb-scented character to summer Wiltshire honey that connoisseurs notice. Lime lines Salisbury, Marlborough and Devizes streets; sweet chestnut at Savernake contributes to June. A small but reliable late ivy flow on flint churchyards closes a long chalkland season.
More on beekeeping in WiltshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
