Aberlour — properly Charlestown of Aberlour — is a Speyside village between Dufftown and Rothes, known for its riverside setting on the Spey and for Walkers Shortbread, which has been made here since 1898. The village square is sheltered and warm, and the Spey below the village carries a productive corridor of alder, willow and elder along its gravel banks. The Speyside Way long-distance path passes through the village, and the surrounding valley-side woodland of birch and oak contributes to a varied summer forage. Heather on the hill ground above the valley is accessible for the late-summer flow.
Collectors handle swarms in the garden trees and hedges of the square and High Street properties, along the Spey riverside walk alder and elder corridor south of the village, in the birch and oak woodland scrub on the valley sides above the Speyside Way, in the heather on the moor above Arndilly, and in chimney stacks and stone wall voids of the Victorian and older stone buildings.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 262 km
Visit websiteCA6 4HN· approx. 281 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 286 km
Visit websiteAssociation data sourced from the British Beekeepers Association directory via SwarmBase.
Oilseed rape on the coastal Laigh of Moray is the defining spring flow: dense sowings between Elgin, Forres and Fochabers flower from late April and can fill a super rapidly on warm days. White clover follows on the improved grassland and roadside verges of the coastal plain through June and July. Sycamore is the dominant woodland forage tree, supplemented by hawthorn on field margins and elder along burn and river corridors. The heather of the Speyside hills and the Dava Moor above Grantown provides a significant late-summer crop accessible from Forres, Keith and the inland villages. Raspberries are grown commercially in parts of the Spey valley, adding a nectar source less common elsewhere in Scotland.
More on beekeeping in MorayReport it in under a minute and a trained local beekeeper will arrange safe collection.
