Mid Yell is the main village of Yell, the second largest island in Shetland, lying on the sheltered west side of the island at the head of Mid Yell Voe. Yell is connected to the Mainland by a regular RoRo ferry from Ulsta at the south end to Toft on the Mainland. The island is predominantly heather and blanket bog — Yell has one of the largest continuous peat moorland areas in Britain — with improved agricultural land concentrated in the lower croft ground around the voes and the south end of the island. Mid Yell has a health centre, school and the main shops for the island. The long heather season on Yell provides one of the most distinctive foraging environments in Shetland for any bees kept there.
Collectors attend swarms on the gorse and whin scrub of the road verges and rough ground around the village, in the garden enclosures and sheltered yards of the village properties near the voe head, in the stone outbuildings and croft steading buildings of the farming townships along the Mid Yell Voe shore, and on the heather moorland edges above the village where colonies may be kept for the late-summer heather flow.
Nearest BBKA-affiliated associations to help with swarm collection and local advice.
NE65 9QH· approx. 593 km
Visit websiteNE12 8EH· approx. 621 km
Visit websiteNE46 3NB· approx. 628 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.
