Voe is a small village at the head of Olna Firth in the Mainland parish of Delting, a sheltered inlet that runs south-west from the A970 trunk road about fifteen kilometres north of Lerwick. The village clusters around the head of the firth and is one of the most picturesque settings in the central Mainland, with the wooded policies of Voe House — an unusual belted woodland on the voe sides — providing an unusual degree of tree cover in the largely treeless Shetland landscape. The surrounding hills carry heather moorland; the voe sides and the improved croft land of the lower valley carry clover and gorse. Voe is a natural stopping point on the main road north and has long served as a services and community centre for the central Mainland parishes.
Collectors attend swarms in the sheltered sycamore and rowan of the Voe House woodland policies along the north voe shore, in the garden enclosures and stone-built properties of the village around the pier and the old shop, on the gorse scrub of the hillside above the village above the main road, and in the improved farmland and shelterbelts of the Lunnasting and Nesting farmsteads to the east.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 565 km
Visit websiteNE12 8EH· approx. 593 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 600 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.
More on beekeeping in Shetland IslandsReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
