Selkirk is a market town on a ridge above the Ettrick Water, the former county town of Selkirkshire and home to the famous Selkirk Grace. The Ettrick Water below the town carries willows, alder and bankside hawthorn; the Philiphaugh battlefield meadows, site of a 1645 skirmish, are managed sympathetically for wildflowers including white clover and meadow vetch. Sycamore and beech line the older residential streets of the town ridge; the Yarrow valley to the west carries heather moorland from July; and the Valley of the Tweed at Abbotsford, within easy range, extends the territory. Bramble is dense on every sheltered bank.
Collectors attend swarms along the Ettrick Water willows from the town bridge toward Philiphaugh, in the Philiphaugh battlefield meadow margins and hawthorn hedgerows, in the sycamore garden walls and chimney eaves of the ridge-top town centre and Market Place, and on the heather and bilberry hill ground above the Yarrow valley.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
CA6 4HN· approx. 68 km
Visit websiteNE65 9QH· approx. 79 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 80 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.
