Bee swarm in Portpatrick? Help is a minute away.

Portpatrick is a small coastal village on the Rhinns of Galloway at Scotland's south-western extremity, its horseshoe harbour and brightly painted houses facing the Irish Sea and the Antrim coast a mere twenty miles distant on a clear day. The village was for many centuries the principal ferry crossing between Scotland and Ireland — a crossing that took a matter of hours in calm weather — before the more sheltered Stranraer–Larne route took over in the nineteenth century; the ruined harbour works and the old church on the cliff reflect that earlier commercial importance. The Southern Upland Way long-distance footpath begins at Portpatrick and the coastal path along the Rhinns gives the village access to one of the richest clifftop forage environments in south-west Scotland. Gorse on the Rhinns cliff tops and headlands is exceptionally dense and flowers from February through to May in mild years; the coastal grassland of the Mull of Galloway and Laggantaluch Head hold thrift, sea-campion and bird's-foot trefoil through spring and early summer. Sycamore on the village lane trees provides the May flow; hawthorn and blackthorn on the Rhinns field boundaries carry the spring blossom. White clover on the improved Rhinns farmland is the main June and July source; bramble on the coastal bank scrub extends the season into September.

The mild Solway climate means spring starts earlier than most of Scotland. Blackthorn and hawthorn open the year; sycamore is important. Oilseed rape is moderate. Lime carries June in Dumfries and Stranraer. Galloway Forest contributes bilberry, rowan and late ling heather; coastal sea-campion on the Solway adds character. Himalayan balsam along the Nith gives a long late flow, and ivy on whitewashed cottage walls closes the year.