Portglenone is a small town on the River Bann in the flat agricultural lowlands of mid-Antrim, where the Bann broadens toward its exit from Lough Neagh a few miles to the south. The town is home to the Cistercian monastery of Our Lady of Bethlehem, founded in 1948 by Irish monks returning from Roscrea; the monastery farm and its mature woodland plantings and orchard grounds are a significant feature of the local landscape and provide distinctive forage close to the town. The River Bann here is broad and slow-moving, its banks lined with alder, willow and elder scrub on both sides; the Bann corridor between Portglenone and Lough Neagh is a significant wildlife habitat and Ramsar site, and the loughside reedbeds and wet grassland provide late-summer forage. The surrounding lowland farmland is some of the most productive mixed agricultural land in County Antrim — flax was grown here historically, and cereals, oilseed rape and improved pasture dominate today. Oilseed rape on the Bann valley farmland gives the April–May early-season flow; sycamore on the town lane trees and monastery grounds provides the May supplement. White clover on the improved pastures is the main June and July source; the Bann riverside elder and willowherb extends the season through August. Ivy on the monastery walls and the older properties closes the year.
Collectors attend swarms in the older stone and brick properties of the town centre and Bridge Street, along the River Bann alder and willow bankside corridor, in the Cistercian monastery farm buildings and orchard and woodland grounds, on the oilseed rape field margins and hedgerow boundaries of the Bann valley farmland, and in the farm outbuildings of the low-lying agricultural land between Portglenone and Randalstown.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BT26 6NH· approx. 57 km
CA24 3HZ· approx. 191 km
Visit websiteCA13 0AU· approx. 200 km
Association data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
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.
More on beekeeping in County AntrimReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
