Bee swarm in Fortrose? Help is a minute away.

Fortrose is a small town on the Black Isle peninsula, its ruined 13th-century cathedral a reminder that this was once a significant ecclesiastical centre for the northern Highlands. Chanonry Point, a sandy spit reaching into the Moray Firth at the southern tip of the Black Isle, is one of the best dolphin-watching spots in the UK and carries a fringe of sea-aster and coastal dune flowers. The Black Isle behind the town is rich arable land, carrying oilseed rape in April and May, field beans and white clover through June; hawthorn and sycamore are the framework of the spring flow on the estate lanes toward Rosemarkie and Avoch. Lime trees in Fortrose town centre and the older residential streets of Cathedral Square give a reliable urban June supplement. Heather moorland on the northern Aird hills is reachable from the peninsula.

The season arrives late — gorse and broom on the Moray coast and sycamore in sheltered valleys begin May. Raspberry (cultivated and wild) on Easter Ross gives a substantial early flow. The Highland defining crop is ling heather on the huge moors of the central, eastern and western Highlands — the finest UK heather honey with a distinct red-amber set and jelly texture, still commercially worked. Bell heather, bilberry and upland herbs supplement. Coastal sea-thrift and ivy on lochside cottages close a short, high-quality year.