Hythe is one of the original Cinque Ports, set on the Kent coast between the Royal Military Canal and the shingle expanse of Dungeness. The Royal Military Canal's reed-bed margins, the orchards and mixed farmland of the Lympne plateau above town, the sea-purslane and sea-lavender of the shingle coast, and the dense sallow and alder carr of the Rother Levels give colonies access to an unusual coastal forage sequence from early spring through to late autumn ivy.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the old garden trees and flint wall crevices of the historic town centre around Mount Street, in the waterside sallow and alder scrub along the Royal Military Canal, in the chimney stacks and roof voids of the Georgian and Victorian seafront terraces, and in the boundary hedgerows and fruit trees of the residential roads climbing towards Saltwood and Lympne.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
TN26 2PE· approx. 14 km
Visit websiteCT15 4AD· approx. 19 km
Visit websiteCT4 5DY· approx. 22 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Few places open as explosively as Kent. Cherry, apple, pear and plum in the orchards of Faversham, Tenterden and the Medway bring an intense early flow, followed closely by oilseed rape on the North Downs dip slopes. Lime and sweet chestnut carry hives through June, particularly in the coppiced woods of the Weald. Late summer is often dominated by fireweed on the chalk pits and disturbed ground, with a strong and valuable ivy flow across the coastal plain from Deal to Whitstable. Hops, though decorative for bees, add to the mosaic.
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