Birtley is a former colliery and light-industrial town in the south of the Gateshead borough, straddling the A1(M) between Gateshead and Chester-le-Street, with a strong working-class community identity and several reclaimed green spaces on old colliery land. Newcastle & Tyneside BKA covers the southern Gateshead area, and the Wrekenton and Lobley Hill sections of the swarm roster reach Birtley regularly. Post-industrial land reclamation around the Drum Industrial Estate edges and the old Birtley brick-works have produced extensive bramble, rosebay willowherb and buddleia habitats that give summer foragers a reliable flow; the Bowes Lion and Pelton allotment gardens contribute legumes and brassica flowers; and the Birtley Cemetery limes and the Ravensworth estate parkland carry a good June and September forage on either side of the summer main flow.
Collectors attend swarms in the mature lime trees and sycamores of Birtley Cemetery and the older residential streets near St Joseph's church, in the bramble and willowherb banks of the reclaimed colliery and brick-works margins, in the allotment hedges and compost areas of the Birtley and Pelton gardens, and in the garden eaves and chimney pots of the Victorian terraces of Durham Road and Drum Road.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE9 5AX· approx. 5 km
Visit websiteNE12 8EH· approx. 13 km
Visit websiteDH1 3SG· approx. 16 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring opens on sycamore and horse chestnut in Jesmond Dene, Leazes Park and Saltwell Park. The lime avenues of the Georgian terraces of Newcastle and the Victorian parks of Sunderland lead the June flow. Bramble and rosebay willowherb are heavy on former pit-head and industrial land. The coastal denes — Marsden, Whitburn, Castle Eden — contribute sea-buckthorn and coastal meadow forage; ivy on old stone streets and garden walls closes the year.
More on beekeeping in Tyne and WearReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
