Eynsham is a large village and historic market settlement on the upper Thames plain, close to the ancient woodland of Wytham Woods and the Thames floodplain meadows at Swinford. The Oxfordshire BKA is nearby. Wytham Woods, just a short flight east of the village, carry one of the most intensively studied ecosystems in Britain, with hazel, sallow, cherry and oak providing a rich early-spring sequence; the Thames meadows at Swinford and Pinkhill carry meadowsweet, marsh thistle and purple loosestrife through summer; oilseed rape is grown on the surrounding farmland; and the village allotments and market-garden orchards add a productive mid-season supplement.
Collectors regularly respond to swarms in the garden trees and old limestone-and-brick walls of the village conservation area around Newland Street and High Street, along the Thames floodplain willows and sallow at Swinford and Pinkhill Eyot, in the Wytham Woods woodland edge scrub between Cumnor and Farmoor, in the old orchard and allotment hedges on the western edge of the village, and in the chimney stacks of the older village properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
OX20 1LP· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteOX14 1QY· approx. 13 km
Visit websiteGL56 0UN· approx. 26 km
Association 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.
