Forfar is the county town of Angus, set in the broad floor of Strathmore between the Sidlaw Hills to the south and the Braes of Angus to the north. The town overlooks Forfar Loch — a significant wetland reserve with willow scrub, reed beds and waterside vegetation — which adds a distinctive urban forage resource to the surrounding arable landscape. Strathmore is one of Scotland's most concentrated oilseed rape belts, and the fields around Forfar are yellow from late April into May, giving apiaries one of the most productive spring flows in the country.
Collectors attend swarms in the willow and elder scrub around Forfar Loch, in the garden trees and allotment hedges of the residential streets behind Castle Street, in the hawthorn and sycamore at the field boundaries east and north of the bypass, and in the stone wall voids and eave spaces of the red sandstone properties in the town centre.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 170 km
Visit websiteCA6 4HN· approx. 189 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 192 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape is the defining Angus spring flow: the wide floor of Strathmore carries dense April–May sowings from Forfar eastward to Carnoustie, filling supers quickly on settled days. Hawthorn, wild cherry and sycamore follow on the hedgerow field margins and estate woodlands of the inland vale. White clover is abundant on the improved coastal grasslands and golf course turf between Monifieth, Carnoustie and Arbroath through June and July. The coastal clifftops carry bird's-foot trefoil, thrift and wild thyme. On the higher ground of the Angus Glens — above Kirriemuir, Edzell and Brechin — heather starts in late July and carries through to mid-September, offering a productive moor crop for those who move colonies to the hill.
More on beekeeping in AngusReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
