Bee swarm in Fishcross? Help is a minute away.

Fishcross is a small village on the Devon Water between Alva and Alloa, lying at the transition point between the Ochil foothills and the broad Forth Carse where the Devon completes its final run to the Forth. The Devon Water bankside here carries a well-established belt of hawthorn, alder, willow and sycamore that provides early-season forage along a sheltered riparian corridor; the improved pastures of the Carse begin immediately to the south with a reliable white clover flow from June. The hillside above the village carries gorse on the rough ground, and apiaries at Fishcross sit neatly on the productive boundary between the fertile lowland and the lower Ochil slopes.

Oilseed rape on the Forth Carse between Alloa, Tullibody and the Stirling boundary is the dominant April-to-May flow, one of the most reliable in central Scotland, and sets fast so requires prompt extraction. White clover follows on the improved lowland pastures and the amenity grasslands of the Alloa park network from June through July. Sycamore on the Devon and Black Devon valley margins and in the Ochil village gardens drives the May gap flow. Hawthorn is prolific on the lower hillside hedgerows and the field boundaries of the Carse. The Ochil Hills above Alva, Tillicoultry and Dollar carry extensive heather moorland from mid-July through September; the steep access tracks allow colonies to be moved up for a late-season heather crop. Bramble on former industrial sites around Alloa and on the Ochil lower slopes extends the summer forage into August. Himalayan balsam is establishing along the Devon Water corridor. Ivy on the older sandstone buildings of Alloa and Clackmannan closes the calendar in October.