Medway · Swarm collection

Bee swarm in Walderslade? Help is a minute away.

Walderslade is a large residential suburb on the North Downs scarp above Chatham, its post-war housing estates overlooking the Medway valley from a prominent chalk ridge. The North Downs chalk downland above Walderslade at Bredhurst and Boxley carries hawthorn scrub, field scabious and orchid-rich chalk grassland; the Capstone Country Park valley below the estate edge gives meadow and woodland-edge forage; and the established garden trees of the older residential streets carry lime and flowering cherry blossom in May.

Postcodes we cover
ME5
Where swarms appear in Walderslade

Typical swarm locations

Collectors attend swarms on the post-war semi-detached eaves and garden walls throughout the Walderslade Village Road and Lords Wood area, in the Capstone Country Park meadow and scrub below the estate, in the North Downs hawthorn and elder scrub on the Bredhurst and Boxley escarpment above the village, and in the allotment and kitchen garden plots at the estate edges.

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Beekeeping associations near Walderslade

Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.

Association data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.

Forage in Medway

The Medway valley fruit-growing tradition — the western part of the old Garden of England — gives apiaries south of Rochester access to extensive cherry, apple, pear and plum orchards in the Burham, Halling and Snodland areas, with a concentrated late-April to mid-May blossom flow. Oilseed rape is grown on the Hoo Peninsula plateau and the river-plain fields north of Cliffe, giving a strong April flow visible from the A228. Hawthorn is dense on the North Downs scarp hedgerows above Walderslade, Blue Bell Hill and Cuxton; the chalk downland between the Medway crossing and Bluewater carries dense blackthorn, hawthorn and field scabious. The Hoo Peninsula marshes at Cliffe Pools, Northward Hill and Cliffe Creek carry sea lavender, sea purslane and coastal meadow wildflowers through July and August — a distinctive estuarine forage note. Lime trees line the Victorian residential streets of Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham; bramble and elder are prolific on the old dockyard margins and the Medway riverside scrub. Ivy on the Rochester castle walls and the older city fabric closes the year in October.

More on beekeeping in Medway
Nearby towns

Swarm help in neighbouring towns

Seen a swarm in Walderslade?

Report it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.