Bee swarm in Ballyclare? Help is a minute away.

Ballyclare is a market town in the Six Mile Water valley between Antrim and Newtownabbey, the principal settlement of the Ballyclare area and the site of an annual fair — the May Fair — that has been held on the main street for centuries and remains the defining annual event of the town. The town sits on the banks of the Six Mile Water at a point where the valley broadens from the Antrim plateau above into the drumlin farmland of the lowland approach to Belfast Lough, and its position gives apiaries access to a varied forage transition zone between the upland basalt heather moorland and the rich lowland agricultural landscape. The Six Mile Water river corridor provides bankside whitethorn, elder and willowherb forage from spring through autumn; the Antrim hills above the town carry heather on the basalt plateau from late July. Sycamore on the town lane trees and in the older residential gardens provides the May flow; hawthorn on the drumlin field boundaries is among the densest in County Antrim. White clover on the improved valley-floor pastures is the main June and July source; the whin-covered slopes of the lower Antrim plateau supplement the spring picture. Ivy on the older properties closes a long, productive season.

Blackthorn and whitethorn on deep field hedges open the year. Sycamore is the backbone of May; hawthorn follows hard. Lime lines Belfast and Ballymena streets. The Glens of Antrim contribute bell and ling heather on the high moors between Cushendall and Glenariff, a late summer crop still commercially worked. Bilberry in basalt scree hills, bramble in every sheltered townland, and a long ivy flow on white-rendered cottage walls close the year.