Innerleithen is a knitwear and historic spa town on the upper Tweed near the confluence with the Leithen Water — a compact mill town with a Victorian pump room, a Robert Smail's Printing Works (National Trust for Scotland) and a strong mountain-biking community on the surrounding hills. The Leithen Water's willows and hawthorn run through the town; the Tweed carries willows and alder to east and west; the Lee Pen hill directly behind the town rises to heather and bilberry moorland within a short flight of any hive. Sycamore dominates the residential streets; bramble is prolific on the forestry road verges above the town.
Collectors attend swarms along the Leithen Water willows through the town, in the Tweed riverside hawthorn and sycamore above Traquair, in the stone garden walls and mill-worker terrace eaves of the town centre, and on the heather and bilberry ground of the Lee Pen and Makeness Kipps hill slopes above.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CA6 4HN· approx. 75 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 95 km
Visit websiteNE65 9QH· approx. 95 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Spring is late; hawthorn and sycamore carry May. Oilseed rape is grown in moderation. The defining flow is ling heather on the Cheviots and Lammermuirs from late July — dark, set, among the best hill heather in the UK. Bilberry in moorland-fringe oakwoods, white clover in hay meadows, bramble in sheltered valleys, and a short autumn ivy flow on stone cottage walls round out a short year.
More on beekeeping in Scottish BordersReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
