Dawlish is a coastal town on the red cliffs of south Devon between Exeter and Teignmouth, its ornamental lawn and black-swan brook running straight through the town centre to the sea. The Dawlish Warren sand spit and dune system to the north, the red-sandstone coastal scrub and the farm hedgerows of the Exe valley above the town give local honey bees a varied coastal season from gorse in late winter through bramble and sea bindweed to a long autumn ivy flow.
Local collectors attend swarms in the ornamental garden trees and parkland limes of The Lawn and Jubilee Park, in the older chimney stacks and Victorian roof voids of the Strand and Marine Parade properties, in the tamarisk and escallonia of the seafront gardens, and in the marram grass and sea buckthorn scrub at the edge of Dawlish Warren nature reserve.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
TQ13 0hn· approx. 12 km
Visit websiteEX5 1EJ· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteTQ2 6XA· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Few UK counties open as quickly. Gorse and blackthorn flowering on the cob hedges of the South Hams can carry colonies into a strong early build-up, followed by the sycamore and lime flows of the river valleys — the Exe, Teign and Dart in particular. Sweet chestnut dots Haldon and the east Devon coast; Dartmoor's bell and ling heather give a classic, thick, ambercast crop into August. On Exmoor, the north-slope bilberry and late ling heather feed smaller, darker crops still prized by local keepers.
More on beekeeping in DevonReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
