Shotts is a small upland town on the watershed plateau between Lanarkshire and West Lothian, at around 250 metres above sea level, where the raw moorland edge begins on the Shotts Muir above the town. Its position on a former mining and ironworks site means the surrounding landscape is a mix of reclaimed colliery ground, wind-farm moorland and improved grassland, with gorse and heather on the undrained upland margins. The Breich Water and its tributaries rise near the town and carry hawthorn and elder scrub in the moorland-edge stream corridors. White clover on the lower-lying improved grasslands is the main June-July flow; heather and bilberry on the Shotts Muir extend the season into August.
Collectors attend swarms on the gorse and heather scrub of the Shotts Muir moorland above the town, on the Breich Water hawthorn and elder margins below the plateau, on the bramble-covered former colliery reclamation ground around Dykehead, and in the older stone and brick eave voids and chimney stacks of the residential streets around Shotts Cross.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CA6 4HN· approx. 110 km
Visit websiteCA13 0AU· approx. 132 km
CA12 4NT· approx. 142 km
Association data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
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.
More on beekeeping in North LanarkshireReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
