Alveston is a historic village and former coaching stop on the A38 between Thornbury and Bristol, its church of St Helen, the rectory garden and the surrounding Severn Vale farmland creating a classic mixed parish bee landscape. Hawthorn hedgerows are dense on the Olveston Road and Hazel Lane field boundaries; the flat Severn Vale plain north toward Thornbury carries oilseed rape on heavy clay soils through April; and the Tockington Lane orchards and village garden plots carry apple and pear blossom in May.
Collectors attend swarms on the church eaves and walled garden borders of St Helen's, in the orchard and kitchen garden plots of the older village properties along Hazel Lane and Church Road, in the hawthorn hedgerows of the Olveston Road and Tockington Lane farm network, and in the Severn Vale field margin elder and bramble scrub between Alveston and Thornbury.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
BS32 4PG· approx. 5 km
Visit websiteGL15 6BS· approx. 15 km
Visit websiteBS1 4QS· approx. 18 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape on the Severn Vale farmland between Thornbury, Oldbury-on-Severn and the M5 corridor gives a strong April to May flow; the flat fields around Olveston and Aust carry it particularly heavily. Hawthorn and blackthorn are dense on the Cotswold edge hedgerows above Wickwar, Rangeworthy and Iron Acton, and the Frome valley farmland east of Yate carries a reliable hawthorn flow in late April. Lime trees line the older streets of Kingswood, Staple Hill and Mangotsfield and carry a June town-centre flow. The Filton Airfield and BAE Systems perimeter scrub carries extensive bramble and rosebay willowherb, and the Frampton Cotterell and Coalpit Heath old colliery reclamation ground is dense with bramble through July and August. Sycamore is abundant along field margins and roadside hedgerows throughout the Cotswold edge; white clover on the improved grasslands of the Severn Vale closes the main flow from June to August. Ivy on the Cotswold limestone walls and the older suburban garden walls closes the year in October.
More on beekeeping in South GloucestershireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
