Wellesbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Dene in south Warwickshire, sitting between Stratford-upon-Avon and Royal Leamington Spa on the fertile Avon clay. The Stratford-on-Avon BKA covers the area, and the landscape around it — the market-garden and soft-fruit holdings of the Wellesbourne Horticultural Experiment Station, the Avon valley willows and meadows at Barford and Charlecote, the parkland lime and ancient oak of Charlecote Park (National Trust), and the hedgerow hawthorn and field maple of the Wellesbourne plain — gives local bees an exceptional mixed-agricultural season with soft-fruit blossom unusual in the east Midlands.
Collectors regularly attend swarms in the older stone cottage and brick house eaves of Kineton Road and Bridge Street, in the Charlecote parkland lime and ancient oak along the Avon riverside, in the market-garden orchard and fruit-cage hedgerows of the horticultural station margins, and along the Dene and Avon watermeadow hawthorn and elder at Moreton Morrell and Barford.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CV37 6QW· approx. 8 km
Visit websiteCV32 4AA· approx. 10 km
Visit websiteOX15 5HZ· approx. 18 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Early flows come from blackthorn and cherry in the Arden hedgerows and oilseed rape on the lighter soils around Southam and Shipston. Hawthorn is abundant; sycamore and field maple fill the middle of May. Lime and sweet chestnut in the parkland around Warwick, Kenilworth and Stratford produce a strong June flow. Bramble and rosebay willowherb support July, and a solid ivy flow along the ironstone villages closes a long season.
More on beekeeping in WarwickshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
