Bee swarm in Motherwell? Help is a minute away.

Motherwell is the largest town in North Lanarkshire, an industrial and retail centre on the South Calder Water above the Clyde, whose steel-making heritage has left a legacy of reclaimed brownfield sites now colonised by bramble, rosebay willowherb and meadow wildflowers. Strathclyde Country Park to the southwest — shared with Hamilton — centres on the Strathclyde Loch on the floodplain of the South Calder Water, and its parkland lime, hawthorn and sycamore give bees some of the best lowland forage in the region. White clover on the improved grasslands and amenity parks is strong through June and July; sycamore drives the May flow on road margins and in the residential streets.

Sycamore is the dominant May flow tree across North Lanarkshire, most productive in the residential streets and country parks of the Clyde plain. White clover on the improved amenity grasslands and the agricultural fields of the Kelvin and Calder valleys peaks in June and July. The Forth and Clyde Canal corridor through Kilsyth carries himalayan balsam from late July; bramble is prolific on the former steelworks and colliery reclamation sites throughout Motherwell, Coatbridge and Bellshill. Drumpellier Country Park near Coatbridge and Strathclyde Country Park near Motherwell provide sheltered lime and hawthorn parkland forage. The Campsie Fells above Kilsyth carry heather and bilberry from late July into September — accessible heather ground for North Lanarkshire beekeepers willing to make a short journey up the hill. Gorse is dense on the moorland fringe above Kilsyth and Cumbernauld; ivy closes the calendar in October in the older town centres.