Bee swarm collection in Orkney Islands

White clover on the rich improved pastures of the Orkney Mainland is the defining honey flow, running through June and July and producing a light, mild honey characteristic of the islands. Oilseed rape is grown on the better arable ground around Kirkwall, Finstown and the Stenness basin and provides an important April-to-May spring flow. Phacelia, now widely sown as a bee-friendly cover crop by Orkney farmers, extends the arable season into summer. Heather on the moorland ridges of Hoy and the western Mainland fringes from mid-July through September gives late-season colonies a valuable top-up flow. Hawthorn in sheltered croft enclosures and gardens is an important May source, earlier than it opens on the Scottish mainland. Sycamore in the sheltered town gardens and school grounds of Kirkwall and Stromness drives the May urban flow. Gorse on rough grazing ground and cliff edges flowers from March and provides early pollen for spring build-up. Bramble on disturbed and fallow ground through July and August, and ivy on older stone buildings and dykes in October, close the season.

Orkney beekeeping is affiliated to the Scottish Beekeepers' Association through a small but active local group. The mild, damp Atlantic climate and the absence of large tracts of heather moorland on the main farming islands make Orkney beekeeping more akin to lowland pastoral counties than to the Scottish mainland highlands; colonies generally winter well in the sheltered settings of the Mainland parishes. The short but intense clover and arable flows make Orkney honey highly regarded for its clean, light character.