Bampton is an ancient market town in the upper Thames plain of west Oxfordshire, surrounded by the flat river-meadow farmland and osier beds of the Bampton Hundred. The Vale and Downland BKA covers the area. The Thames floodplain meadows around Shifford and Clanfield carry osier beds, sallow and grey willow providing the earliest spring pollen; the water-meadow ronds add purple loosestrife, marsh thistle and meadowsweet through summer; the surrounding vale arable farmland contributes oilseed rape in spring; and the mature garden trees and hedgerow ash, sycamore and hawthorn of the Bampton and Aston lanes provide a mid-season local supplement. Bampton's village green and churchyard carry some of the oldest lime trees in the vale.
Collectors attend swarms in the garden lime trees and old limestone boundary walls of the Market Square and Church View conservation area, along the Thames and Shilton Brook riverside willows and osier beds between Bampton and Aston, in the old-field hedge trees of the Clanfield and Black Bourton roads, in the farm outbuildings and old hay-barn roofs of the vale farms, and in the chimney stacks of the older stone-built properties of the town.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
OX14 1QY· approx. 19 km
Visit websiteOX20 1LP· approx. 20 km
Visit websiteSN25 4TG· approx. 23 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring opens on blackthorn, hawthorn and cherry plum along the stone hedges of the Cotswolds fringe and the chalk lynchets of the Vale. Oilseed rape is locally significant in Cherwell and South Oxfordshire. Beech in the Chilterns contributes to a huge honeydew-flavoured June flow some years, while lime avenues fill central Oxford and the larger market towns. Bramble, rosebay willowherb and field bean carry July; ivy along the Thames valley walls and the old college gardens closes the year.
More on beekeeping in OxfordshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
