Helston is a market town on the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall's entry point to the southernmost mainland of Britain, famous throughout the county for the Flora Day Furry Dance each May. The town sits at the head of the Cober valley, with the Loe — the largest natural freshwater lake in south-west England — lying immediately below behind its sand bar. The surrounding landscape of sheltered valley oak woodland, gorse and heather Lizard heathland, sub-tropical coastal flora at Glendurgan and Trebah and the mild Lizard climate give local bees one of the longest seasons in England. West Cornwall Beekeepers covers the Helston and Lizard area.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older garden and orchard remnants of the Coinagehall Street and Wendron Street conservation areas, along the Cober riverside willows and reed-beds at Nansloe and the Loe Bar path, on the gorse and heather of the Lizard coastal path above Porthleven and Gunwalloe, and in the chimney stacks and eaves of the older granite and rendered terrace properties of the town centre and the residential streets of Helston.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
TR17 0BJ· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteTR1 2RF· approx. 24 km
Visit websiteTR2 4LG· approx. 31 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
The season opens with gorse on every headland, flowering intermittently most of the year but peaking in April. Blackthorn on the cob hedges lights up the byways; sycamore and hawthorn carry the early build; and the slow-growing pittosporum and myrtle in the sub-tropical gardens of the south coast provide unusual supplementary forage. Bramble is dominant through July, bell heather appears on Bodmin Moor and the Penwith commons in August, and the mild autumn leans on ivy and fuchsia hedging well into October.
More on beekeeping in CornwallReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
