Arbroath is Angus's largest town, a historic royal burgh and fishing port known for the Declaration of Arbroath (1320) and the locally wood-smoked arbroath smokie. The red sandstone of Arbroath Abbey stands at the heart of the old town, and the harbour below is still active with creels and shellfish boats. The cliff-top path between Arbroath and Auchmithie passes through gorse scrub, sea thrift and coastal grassland, while the hinterland carries oilseed rape on the Strathmore approach. The Signal Tower gardens, Keptie Pond park and the Hospitalfield estate woodlands provide hawthorn and sycamore in spring.
Collectors handle swarms in the mature garden trees and hedges of the older sandstone properties around Abbey Street and the Ladyloan, in the gorse and scrub of the cliff-top path between Arbroath and Whiting Ness, in the elder and hawthorn at the field margins west of the bypass, and in chimney stacks and crow-step gable voids of the red sandstone buildings near the harbour.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 154 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 179 km
Visit websiteCA6 4HN· approx. 182 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape is the defining Angus spring flow: the wide floor of Strathmore carries dense April–May sowings from Forfar eastward to Carnoustie, filling supers quickly on settled days. Hawthorn, wild cherry and sycamore follow on the hedgerow field margins and estate woodlands of the inland vale. White clover is abundant on the improved coastal grasslands and golf course turf between Monifieth, Carnoustie and Arbroath through June and July. The coastal clifftops carry bird's-foot trefoil, thrift and wild thyme. On the higher ground of the Angus Glens — above Kirriemuir, Edzell and Brechin — heather starts in late July and carries through to mid-September, offering a productive moor crop for those who move colonies to the hill.
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