Bee swarm in Sandwick? Help is a minute away.

Sandwick is a south Mainland parish and village, about twenty kilometres south of Lerwick, notable as the location of Mousa Broch across the sound on the tidal island of Mousa — the best-preserved iron age broch tower in the world, and a site of international archaeological significance. The settlement is a scattered croft township facing east across Mousa Sound, with the Mainland rising to moorland behind. The south Mainland parishes around Sandwick and Cunningsburgh carry good agricultural ground by Shetland standards — improved pasture, some arable, and sheltered valley bottoms with gorse-covered banks. The Loch of Spiggie to the south, an RSPB reserve, provides open water habitat in the broader landscape.

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.