Watlington is a small market town at the foot of the Chiltern escarpment in south-east Oxfordshire, tucked between the chalk hills and the Thames vale. The South Chilterns BKA covers the area. The Chiltern beechwoods above the town — including Christmas Common and Watlington Hill National Trust reserve — provide a rich pollen source from bluebells and wood anemone in spring and bramble in the clearings through summer; the chalk grassland of Watlington Hill itself carries chalk-loving herbs including marjoram and knapweed; and the vale farmland below adds white clover and oilseed rape to the lowland flow. The town's mature garden trees add lime and sycamore in June.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the old flint-and-brick garden walls and mature trees of the High Street and Brook Street conservation area, on the chalk grassland and beechwood scrub edge of Watlington Hill, in the orchard and hedged lane remnants of the Pyrton and Shirburn estate villages, along the Little Thames valley willows south of the town, and in the chimney stacks and roof voids of the older market-town properties.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
RG8 0QY· approx. 13 km
Visit websiteRG8 8AP· approx. 18 km
HP11 1BJ· approx. 18 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.
