Cunningsburgh is a township in the South Mainland of Shetland, stretching along the shore of Clift Sound on the east side of the island south of Lerwick. The name derives from the Old Norse Konungs-borg, the king's fort, and an Iron Age promontory fort occupies Ness of Cunningsburgh above the sound. The township comprises several scattered crofting communities — Mail, Fladdabister, Sandwick of Cunningsburgh — running back from the sheltered east coast to the central moorland. South Mainland is generally the most fertile and sheltered part of Shetland, with deeper soils and more improved agricultural land than the north. Beekeeping at Cunningsburgh benefits from the productive clover grassland of the improved croft land and the heather moorland of the central Mainland ridge above.
Collectors attend swarms in the stone-built croft houses and outbuildings along the minor road through the township, on the gorse and whin of the coastal banks above Clift Sound, in the elder scrub on the burn courses draining to the sound, and on the heather and rough grassland of the moorland ridge between Cunningsburgh and Channerwick to the south.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 524 km
Visit websiteNE12 8EH· approx. 552 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 559 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Heather is the dominant forage plant of Shetland, covering the vast majority of the island landscape with bell heather and ling running from mid-July through September; the heather honey of Shetland has a distinctive strong character from the pure moorland sources. White clover on improved croft land in the valley bottoms and the more fertile western Mainland parishes provides the main June-to-July summer flow. Gorse — whin — is exceptionally abundant throughout Shetland from March into June, flowering earlier than most mainland sites thanks to the Gulf Stream influence, and providing critical early pollen and nectar for spring colony build-up. Sycamore in the sheltered town gardens and policies of Lerwick and Scalloway gives a productive May flow where trees are established. Bramble on disturbed ground and croft edges from July to August. Dandelion on roadsides and improved grassland in April and May provides early pollen. Ivy on older stone buildings in the more sheltered settings around Lerwick closes the season into October on mild years.
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