Invergordon is the deep-water port of Easter Ross — a former Royal Navy anchorage and smelter town on the south shore of the Cromarty Firth, with the fertile farmland of Easter Ross stretching back behind it. The district has some of the most productive agricultural land in the north of Scotland: oilseed rape on the Easter Ross plain gives a strong early flow, followed by white clover and field beans; the raspberry-growing belt between Invergordon and Tain adds an unusual fruit-blossom crop rare at this latitude. The Cromarty Firth shoreline carries sea-aster from July; the Fyrish Hill and Struie heather moors to the west give a late-summer heather flow within easy flying distance of the lower farmland.
Collectors attend swarms in the oilseed rape and raspberry field margins of the Easter Ross plain, along the Cromarty Firth sea-aster shore, on the Fyrish Hill heather fringe to the west, in the older stone properties and harbour-front buildings of Invergordon, and in the garden walls and outbuildings of the farming steadings along the Invergordon to Tain road.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 308 km
Visit websiteCA6 4HN· approx. 314 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 328 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
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.
More on beekeeping in HighlandReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
