Eccleshall is a market town on the River Sow in mid-Staffordshire, historically notable as the seat of the Bishops of Lichfield whose castle stands at the town's edge. It sits in the farming heartland of the Staffordshire plain between Stafford and Loggerheads, surrounded by the hedgerow pasture, mixed arable and ancient enclosures that make this quiet corridor of Staffordshire exceptionally productive for bees. The Staffordshire South BKA covers the area, and the local forage — hawthorn-thick hedgerows, Sow valley willows and watermeadow, oilseed rape on the Chatcull and Norbury arable, and the lime and sycamore of the town's castle grounds and High Street — gives local bees a long and varied rural season.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older sandstone and brick house eaves and garden walls of the High Street and Castle Street conservation area, in the Sow riverside willows and watermeadow at Chebsey and Creswell, along the hedgerow hawthorn and field maple of the Eccleshall and Loggerheads farm lanes, and in the lime and sycamore of the Holy Trinity churchyard and the castle garden remnants.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
ST17 0UP· approx. 16 km
Visit websiteST9 0EL· approx. 22 km
Visit websiteSY133JL· approx. 30 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape leads the early flow across the arable belt. Cannock Chase contributes a significant late heather crop — bell first, then ling — on its extensive sandy commons. The Staffordshire Moorlands add bilberry and small ling patches; lime in Stafford, Lichfield, Burton and Stoke-on-Trent fills the June streets. Bramble and rosebay willowherb are everywhere in the former colliery and brickworks land. Ivy carries hives into autumn on old red-brick terraces and the greenbelt villages.
More on beekeeping in StaffordshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
