South Queensferry is a narrow historic town on the Firth of Forth shore, squeezed beneath the vast steel frame of the Forth Rail Bridge. The old High Street — a single medieval lane of crow-stepped gables — gives way westward to the landscaped grounds of Dalmeny Estate and eastward to the parkland edge of Hopetoun House, one of Scotland's finest Georgian mansion parks. Bees here work an unusual mix of coastal sea-pink and sea-aster on the Forth shore, the horse chestnut and lime of Dalmeny and Hopetoun's estate avenues, gorse on the coastal scrub above the town, and the walled kitchen gardens that survive in both parkland estates.
Collectors attend swarms in the High Street crow-stepped garden walls and old house eaves, in the Dalmeny Estate boundary planting and parkland trees, along the Forth shoreline gorse and scrub, and in the garden walls and outbuildings of the newer residential areas above the old town.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CA6 4HN· approx. 119 km
Visit websiteNE65 9QH· approx. 133 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 139 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring comes later than southern England but catches up quickly on horse chestnut and sycamore in the Meadows, Inverleith Park and Holyrood. The lime avenues of the New Town produce a classic pale, mineral June flow; Blackford Hill, Arthur's Seat and the Pentlands add gorse and broom. Bramble and rosebay willowherb are heavy on every disused railway and quarry corridor. Coastal sea-aster and sea-pink on the Forth shore at Cramond, and a strong ivy flow on Old Town walls, close a surprisingly long urban season.
More on beekeeping in City of EdinburghReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
