Bee swarm in Inverkeithing? Help is a minute away.

Inverkeithing is a small historic burgh on the Firth of Forth immediately north of the Forth Road and Rail bridges, one of the oldest royal burghs in Scotland with a charter dating to around 1165. The town sits at the head of a small bay where the Keithing Burn enters the firth, and its medieval street plan — mercat cross, tolbooth and friary ruins — survives within the largely residential and commuter community it has become since the Forth crossings transformed its position into a gateway town for Edinburgh. The foreshore below the town and the firth-edge scrub provide hawthorn, elder and willowherb forage close to the settlement; Inverkeithing Bay itself is a nature reserve and the saltmarsh and mudflats at the head of the bay hold a range of coastal wetland plant species. Oilseed rape on the Fife arable plain north and west of the town gives the dominant early-season flow in April and May; sycamore on the older town lane trees and in the friary grounds carries the spring into early summer. Lime on the streetside plantings in the town centre provides the June flow; white clover on the improved grassland of the Fife plateau carries colonies into August. Ivy on the older stone properties and garden walls closes the year.

Oilseed rape is the defining early Fife flow across the central plain. Raspberry canes on the Howe of Fife add an unusual early-summer crop. Sycamore and lime carry May into June in St Andrews, Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline and Cupar. The Lomond Hills and parts of the north Fife moors give bell and ling heather. Coastal sea-aster and samphire along the East Neuk add seasoning; ivy on old fisher-town gables closes the year.