Cottingham is one of the largest villages in England — a substantial dormitory and market town on the northern fringe of Hull, with a Victorian and Edwardian character that sets it apart from the city suburbs to the south. The village green, the fourteenth-century church of St Mary the Virgin and the wide, tree-lined streets of the older residential areas give Cottingham a distinctive character, and the surrounding farmland of the East Riding plain carries the oilseed rape, hawthorn hedges and field-margin bramble that support a solid season for honey bees. The University of Hull grounds at Cottingham Road bring ornamental limes, horse chestnuts and specimen trees of a kind not always found at the Hull edge.
Collectors in Cottingham regularly attend swarms in the lime and horse chestnut of King Street and the older residential streets, in the mature trees and garden borders of the University of Hull sports grounds, along the drain-side hawthorn and willow margins north of the village toward Skidby, and in the chimney stacks and garden eaves of the Victorian and Edwardian villa streets near the church.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
HU17 9BA· approx. 6 km
Visit websiteDN20 0JR· approx. 26 km
Visit websiteYO19 5UF· approx. 44 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape is the defining early flow across the Wolds and Holderness plain. Hawthorn and field maple line the hedgerows. Lime lights the streets of Beverley, Driffield, Hull (Kingston-upon-Hull) and Bridlington. The Wolds chalk grasslands carry thyme, knapweed and sainfoin; bramble and rosebay willowherb are universal. Coastal sea-buckthorn at Spurn adds a distinctive late-summer flow, and a strong ivy flow on the East Riding's pantile villages closes the year.
More on beekeeping in East Riding of YorkshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
