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Lerwick is the capital and only substantial town of Shetland, a working port and the northernmost town in the United Kingdom, set on a sheltered harbour on the east side of the Mainland. The Town Hall, Fort Charlotte and the compact stone-built lanes of the old town give Lerwick a strong architectural character; the town is the hub of the islands' fishing, oil industry support and administrative life. The Knab headland and Clickimin Loch are notable open-space landmarks within or close to the town. The sheltered gardens and policies of the older town properties carry sycamore and elder that provide important forage in the short Shetland summer; the moorland rises immediately to the west. Up Helly Aa, the fire festival held each January, is the most celebrated midwinter fire festival in the British Isles.

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.